Growing Pains
by AvadaKaNikki
Summary: Giles has a 'little' problem on his hands when Buffy decides to do things her way instead of taking his advice. Giles, Willow & Xander need to hurry to find the cure...if there is one... before Joyce comes home from her trip. Will they be able to help Buffy? This is my first fic. Ever. i hope you like it :) kid!fic, deage, may contain 'spanking' in later chapters. maybe.
1. Chapter 1

Buffy ran through Sunnydale cemetery unarmed and injured. '_How did I get myself into this mess?'_ she mentally asked herself as she sprinted into the woods, her lungs felt like they were going to explode '_OH! I know! It's because you had to things your way and not listen to Giles… again'_ Buffy thought sarcastically as she stopped to lean back against a thick tree and hissed as the large scratch on her shoulder blade made contact with the bark. _CRUNCH._ Buffy's head jolted up to scan her surrounding area someone or something was definitely out there. Looking around for a makeshift weapon she thought back on today and how she ended in this position.

-Earlier that afternoon-

The bell rang through the halls of Sunnydale High school signaling the end of the school day. Buffy, Willow and Xander made their way to the library. They walked and saw Giles reading a book at the long table in the center of the room. "Heya Giles!" Willow said with a cheery smile as she put book bag on the table and sat down Giles continued to read with a slight frown playing on his features. Buffy sat down in the chair next to Willow looking at her watcher who still hadn't acknowledged them "Hellooo earth to Giles," she looked at him for a moment then to Willow and Xander and shrugged her shoulders while holding her hands palms up "Must be in watcher mode." Xander finally decided to sit down he put his feet up on the table and then grabbed a Twinkie out of his bag, taking far too large bite out of it "Well, it _is_ his job besides," he continued to talk as he chewed "the G-man he probly didn't hear us… ya know…" he brought his voice to a whisper bringing his hand to mouth as if he were telling a secret "he _is_ getting up there in watcher years and…"

"I am NOT losing my hearing if that's what you are implying" Giles replied in a no non-sense tone, he looked up from his book "Hello everyone, I trust your day has gone well and Xander…" he looked to Xander "Don't call me that." He continued to stare at Xander then shifted his sight to the boys' feet. "Okay, okay I get it extnay on the G-man. Gotcha." He gave Giles a goofy grin as he brought his from off the table then gave halfhearted shrug. "So, now that you're back to the land of the living what's got my watcher all spacey?" Buffy asked as she got up and went to stand besides Giles to look over his shoulder at his book which he closed as she got there "It's nothing just a book… what is it you call them?"

"'1001 ways to kill Buffy' guides" Xander answered while smirking and got a glare from Buffy. "Ahh yes that's it. Thank you Xander." Giles said and earned a laugh from Willow. "Well it's true! I feel like every time you open one of those books it has some type of prophecy about me dying!" Buffy said as she shifted her weight from her left foot to her right while putting her hands on her hips when she did Giles noticed slight bruising on her left knuckles. He reached out and grabbed her had examining the bruised flesh "How did patrolling go last night?" Giles asked still holding her hand and flexing her fingers, she pulled her hand back with a slight roll of her eyes "oh you know same slay, different day"

"I dunno Buffster your knuckles are painting a different story there" Xander said pointing to her hand "How come I didn't notice those all day?" "It's not as bad as it looks… Hello slayer here. Remember? And with that comes the perks of super healy powers. It's NBD." Buffy said in a 'please drop it' tone "Uh it kinda IS a BD Buffy your hand is all bruisey…" Willow said as Xander added "Yeah that is no bueno slayerita and Will is right is a BD, it's a BFD!" Buffy was about to respond when Giles cut in "Ahem, not to date myself but what is a NBD, BD and a…"

"No Big Deal. Big Deal and Big Fu…" Xander started as he ticked of each meaning with his fingers before he was stopped by Willow "I think he gets it" Giles sat there mumbling to himself "BFD, BFD, BFD ..." before it clicked "OH BFD!" then he frowned towards Xander in a way ones parent might. Xander got red in the face at the stare "What? It's not like I SAID it! Sheesh" "That's because Will stopped you" Buffy as she crossed her arms across her chest and Willow gave a triumphant smile. Giles sensed another argument on the rise and decided to nip it in the bud "Buffy while it may not seem like a big deal to you I would feel more comfortable if I were to escort for back up while patrolling or at least to have you check in with me at the end of the night." Buffy face shaded red but not from embarrassment as Xander's had earlier, no this was anger "I'm the slayer not some one year old who still needs help walking across the room!" she said in a loud voice, almost a shout. Xander and Willow shared a look then Xander clapped his hands rubbing them together before saying "Willow that's our cue to mosey on outta here. Your rents still do Chinese on Fridays?" while standing to grab his backpack waving his hand in a 'let's go' manner "huh? Oh yeah Chinese Fridays, I almost forgot… we should go before we are uhh late. Yeah." And with that the two left the library in no time flat.

Giles and Buffy watched them leave then the watcher turned back to look at Buffy with a frown on his face "I never said you were toddler that needed to be babysat Buffy, though after your display right now I might." Buffy look down to her feet feeling like she was a five year old in trouble. '_well you did kinda act like one right now. You didn't have to yell' _she thought to herself before she mentally told her conscience to shut up. When she looked back up Giles was still frowning at her, she looked to the book he was reading earlier then spoke "Sorry. I didn't mean to freak over nothing I guess I'm just tired" Giles sat watching her, she continued to look at the book, he let out a sigh "Buffy." He waited "Buffy look at me please" again he waited, when she finally looked up to him he continued "I'm not trying to treat you like a baby. I'm not. It is that with the rise of the demonic activity due to Hell Mouth and it being a full moon tonight, I would sleep better at night knowing your safe." His face softened and he continued "I think you should take the evening off. It's Friday I'm sure you, Willow and Xander can find something to do that doesn't involve slaying." Buffy gave him a smirk "This slayer needs a vacay. Thanks Giles but… I think with the Hell Mouth being all wonky I probly shouldn't, I'll just make a quick round before bed tonight just in case." The watcher frowned again "No. You are to go out with friends or stay in all together. I will make the rounds and if anything out the ordinary happens you will the first person I contact but you but until then I don't want you anywhere near the cemetery's. Am I clear?" he gave Buffy a pointed look "Alright I get it patrolling equals no Buffy" she gave him a nod a smile "consider me unemployed tonight" Giles continued to watch her with disbelief written all over his face "What? I'm serious watcher-mine I'll be a total homebody tonight" she raised her hand as if swearing an oath "You better be or I know a certain homebody that will be finding herself polishing weapons for the next week" Giles said with an eyebrow raised "Come let's go through some basic training before I take you home"

As he pulled up to the house he noticed all the lights were off but Joyce's car was in the drive way so he parked and turned off the engine. Buffy was gathering up her things when she looked to Giles then back to her house then back to her watcher "what's up?" she asked as he reached across her into glove box to pull out a stake "Giles? Did you see something?" starting to worry she too pulled out her own stake from her book bag. "I do not see any lights on not even the porch light, where is your mum? I see her car but I highly doubt she is sitting in the dark." Buffy let her form relax as she put her stake back in her bag "No biggie Giles. Mom is gone this week buying product in Cairo for the gallery. Gee, thanks for proving my point of you never listen to me unless the world is about to end." She stuck out her bottom lip and pouted. "Cairo. That's correct. I seem to have forgotten she was to leave this morning. I apologize Buffy." "Okay, okay all is forgiven watcher-mine" she smiled at her watcher before jumping out of the car and closing the door and headed in the house and flashed the porch light twice and Giles drove off.

Buffy was bored and a bored Buffy is never a good thing. It was going on 9 o'clock Willow had called around 7 and asked her to come over and watch Marvel movies with her and Xander but Buffy declined saying Giles had her patrolling but that maybe she would swing by after. In the beginning she actually had no intention whatsoever to go patrolling when she had promised Giles but now she was anxious, like she need to go out and slay something and that's just what she was going to do. '_I'm not some baby, I'm 16 and I'm the slayer and I can take care of a few demons that get in my way. I mean it IS MY job' _she thought as she stated packing stakes and holy water in her messenger bag. She changed her clothes and headed out for the evening.

-Present time-

_CRUNCH_. There was the noise again and it was closer this time. Buffy took deep breaths and continued to scan for a rock, stick anything she could use knock this thing on its demonic butt. She found a pretty good sized rock and picked it up with one hand before back up against the tree again. _ CRUNCH._ '_Dammit maybe I should climb for higher ground'_ she look up to the branches above her the nearest branch was too high to reach if is she wasn't injured. She let out sigh, gripping her 'weapon' in her hand and cursed herself for dropping her weapons bag when she was outnumbered by those… come to think of it she had no idea type hell creation they were. _ SNAP._ The sound of a twig being stepped on brought her out of her thoughts she raised her arm back ready to throw as hard as she could to buy her some time to take off and make her to the main road. Buffy took fighting stance, her right arm raised she looked in the direction of that the noise were coming from. She tried to steady her breathing '_in through the nose, out through the mouth' _just like Giles taught her. _CRUNCH._ The bushes about 7ft in front started to shake something was definitely about to show itself. '_Okay this is it'_ Buffy bent at her knees and she readied herself as a shadowed figured came into sight with what seemed like a weapon drawn towards her, she cocked back her arm about to throw with all her might…

"Buffy?" a voice asked in a harsh whisper, a voice she recognized and couldn't be happier to hear "Giles!" she sounded relieved and dropped the rock then hobbled her way over to her watcher once she reached him she could see his face in the moonlight. '_welp there went happiness'_ she thought as she saw the half frown half glare on her watchers face '_Uh oh' "_Uh oh is right" he snapped as he lowered the crossbow he held "Did I say that out loud?" she asked more to herself then to her watcher "You were told to stay away from patrolling tonight" he admonished in a firm tone he then let the cross bow fall using its strap to let it settle at his hip only then did Buffy see he also had her lost weapons bag slung on his shoulder. Buffy let her eyes fall to the ground, she sniffled feeling like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar after being told no sweets before dinner she felt her eyes sting with unshed tears '_wait, tears? You're the slayer you don't cry like a baby! Man up!'_ she chided herself feeling Giles eyes on her she chanced looking up his face still looked like he could kill something or someone '_Like me.'_ Buffy mused. Finally he broke the silence "Are you hurt?" she gave a slow nod still not looking up, he took a step towards her "Buffy you don't have to look as if I'm about to send you to the gallows" he softened his voice "where are you hurt?" he reached into his inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small Maglite, turning it on to survey the damage shining it on her. Giles took in her appearance her clothes were disheveled with her shirt pulled to one side so that it hung off one shoulder which looked bruised, she had a rip on the knee of her jeans and he could see the scrape on the exposed skin underneath, a busted lip and a knot above her right eye. "I think I sprained my ankle while running and one those baddies got my back pretty good I don't feel it healing. Stitches maybe?" He made her turn to look at the wound, she was right it would definitely need to stitches. Giles placed a hand on her non-bruised shoulder "Well let's get you back to my place so I can mend these wounds, Can you walk?" Buffy nodded then proceeded to follow/lean on her watcher all the way to car. Her ankle was still hurting her.

Once they reached the car Giles helped Buffy into the passenger seat. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, he put the weapons in the trunk before getting in the car himself he still looked upset but not like before this was different. Buffy stayed silent as he reached in his pocket to remove the keys when he had them in the ignition she spoke "So… How much trouble am I in?" Giles looked in her direction then raised an eyebrow before saying "Let's just says the weapons will have never shined so bright." Then he started the car and drove off as Buffy let out a groan.


	2. Chapter 2

***Disclaimer: I realized i didnt post this in my first chapter... but sadly all the BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon not me. **

***Warning: There may be spanking in this story...I'm sure yet but thought i would put it out there :)**

Giles had Buffy sit on the couch holding an icepack to her forehead as he gathered everything he would need to dress her wounds. When he walked back into the living room with his 'med kit' he noticed Buffy had stopped icing her head and put the ice pack on the cushion next to her. "That is supposed to be on your head not my couch. Hold it to your head Buffy." He took a seat on the coffee table in front of her pulling out the antiseptic and cotton strips. Buffy threw him a pout "But I don't wanna, its cold" she said in a near whine. Giles looked up from what he was doing, raising his eyebrows at her behavior "Imagine that, an icepack that's cold. Must be the 8th worlds wonder" he said, acting in awe before turning serious again, picking up the icepack and shoving it in her hands and pointing to her head with a stern face. Buffy let out a dramatic sigh before replacing the cold pack with a sullen face. After 15 minutes of her complaining that he was purposely using the 'stingy kind' of medicine and her pulling back every time he 'hurt' her, he had finally been able to get to all the smaller wounds and was even able to elevate her bruised ankle to ice it even though that started another round of 'it's too cold'. Giles was starting to get a headache, he took of his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose and he still had her back wound to stitch. '_This should be fun.'_ He thought sarcastically as he replaced his glasses wondering what had gotten into his slayer this evening. "Alright, now your back and then we are done" moving to sit next to her on the couch bringing his med kit with him; He helped Buffy shift so that her foot was still elevated on the table but so that her back was to him. Giles glanced at the clock, it was almost 1 in the morning, he removed her outer shirt or at least what was left of it, without much of a fight from Buffy to reveal her camisole but once he started to disinfect the area that was short lived.

Buffy jolted forward "OW! Giles you're doing that on purpose!" she scowled at him over her shoulder. Giles rolled his eyes "Buffy the ONLY thing I am doing on purpose is cleaning you're abrasions. Now stop this foolish behavior and let me finish, I am not doing anything different than usual." Her bottom lip poked out and she shook her head "Nuh-uh, it's hurtin more." Giles pushed his thumb and pointer finger under his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose when he looked up she was still pouting "Alright, would you like some tea?" at her nod he left to start the kettle. As he made her tea the way she liked it, milk, 2 spoons of sugar and a small squeeze of honey, he called from the kitchen "While drinking your tea it might be helpful if you went over tonight's events and what you encountered at the cemetery." When no reply came he called out her name and then again. He came around the corner to find her asleep leaning on the arm of the couch he foot still propped up, he couldn't help but smile at how young she looked, he shook his head and took advantage of the opportunity to stitch her shoulder/back. While gently cleaning out what looked like 3 marks made by a claw or maybe talons, he noticed several flecks of aqua iridescent slivers, squinting at them. He turned to grabbed the tweezers but when he turned back to remove them they were no longer there. Giles frowned while inspecting the wounds and still finding nothing '_Well old man it IS late, you were probly just seeing things' _he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes then looked back at the lacerations on his slayers back still seeing no aqua substance he proceeded to stitch her wounds but made a mental note to research it anyhow.

"Buffy. Buffy…" Giles gently shook Buffy to wake her and get her to bed "Buffy." The young girl in front of him let out a moan and mumbled something that he couldn't quite make out "What was that?" he continued to shake her and a small frown flickered across her features before she squinted up towards her watcher "Giles?...What.. what are you doing in my room?" "Buffy you fell asleep on the couch." She looked around taking in her surroundings the bookshelf against the wall, the out of date TV, oh yeah she was definitely at Giles'. Buffy sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Giles held out a small stack of folded clothes for her to take when she look at them he elaborated "They are not much but it's better than sleeping in denim" he gave her a small smile which she returned when she took the clothes in her hands "Thanks".

Buffy came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of Giles old sweats; the shirt was huge on her, she had to roll the pants at the waist to shorten the length but even then it didn't make much of a difference. Giles was in the kitchen rinsing the dishes from the tea that no one drank she stood in the doorway with dirty clothes in her hands not knowing where to put them. When Giles looked up from drying his hands he saw Buffy in the doorway looking very tired, he tossed the dishtowel on the counter and walked to stand in front his slayer "It's nearly 2 in the morning I think it is time for some real sleep" he took her gently by the elbow and led her to the bottom of the stairs. He turned to her and took the soiled clothes from her hands, he could wash them but he doubted he could save the top since the back was nearly cut to shreds from this evenings events. "Go on up. While you changing I readied the bed for you so…" Buffy had turned to face him when he taken the clothes and noticed a make shift 'bed' on the couch in her line of vision, she shook her head back and forth while she interrupted "Whoa! No way Giles! I'm totes not kicking you outta bed. I'll take the couch." "You're not 'kicking' me out Buffy. Am I the one all bruised and stitched? No. So you will take the bed." There was wasn't room for debate she could tell by his tone "Besides you will need to be well rested for all the polishing I have in store for you." He added with a smirk then headed to the laundry room. Buffy stared at where her watcher once stood with an open mouth she had completely forgot that she was busted. Giles returned having changed into his night clothes only to find the teen still standing there, her expression was priceless. He had to fight back breaking out in laughter because of it. Buffy shook herself out of her thoughts when she sensed her watchers presence "I was hoping you woulda forgot about that" she said as her bottom lip stuck out, he did let out a small laugh at that "Good night Buffy." He watched as she shrugged somewhat stiffly before turning and heading up the stairs. She was about halfway up the stairs when heard her called out "A slayer can dream, right?" smiling he turned off the lights and laid on the couch listening to the sounds of her getting situated then there was silence. Until he heard her call out to him "Night-night Giiileessss" in a sing song voice "Good night. again Buffy" and again there was silence Giles closed his eyes and sleep was about to overcome him when a thought popped up in his head had his slayer said 'night-night'?

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!_ Giles eyes fluttered opened at the sound of someone knocking. _KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!_ '_more like pounding' _hethought as he sat up to put his glasses on and checked the time, 15 passed 7am. He threw the blanket off his flannel pajama clad legs and went to answer the door when the pounding sounded again "Alright I'm coming" he shouted as he thought '_this better be bloody important!'_. The librarian swung the door open only to find Xander and Willow on his front step, as soon they seen Giles they both started frantically talking. Giles looked between the both of them trying to make out what was being said. Both teens were talking a mile a minute finally he held up hands with his palms out pushing them back and forth in 'slow down' motion "hey, hey one at a time please it's too earlier for me to try and decipher what you're trying to tell me when you speak as one" they both went quiet, looked at each other then back to Giles. When no one took the initiative to speak first he looked to Willow and said you first, she took a deep breath "Okay. So last night we decided to call Buffy and ask her if she wanted to watch some movies with us…" "yeah, ya know like Thor, Captain America oh OH and The Avengers to end the night. I mean if I had to choose which…" "Xander," the younger boy looked up "why don't we let Willow finish before we start this thrilling debate about Captain Avenger" Xander looked appalled as he mumbled that his name was Captain America NOT 'Captain Avenger'. Giles looked to Willow who decided it was a good time to finish, so she took another deep breath "Soooooo, like I was saying we asked Buffy to join us and said she couldn't cause YOU said she HAD patrol but she said she was gonna stop by afterwards but then it got later and later and she never showed so I tried to call her… like a lot… but I didn't get any answers Xand said it was probly because she had a long and decided to crash afterwards so this morning," she stopped her continuous story to take another deep breath "so this morning when we woke up we went over to see her and no one was home!" "She hadn't even been in her bed!" Xander finally added. Giles opened the door wider to let them in "You both can stop worrying yourselves Buffy is here, asleep." For the time since they had been there they noticed Giles appearance, he was in pair forest green flannel plaid pajama bottoms and a soft grey cotton t-shirt that was still crumpled from sleeping in it. Giles looked to Xander "How… how did you know she hadn't slept in her bed?" the boy looked to Willow then to Giles and shoved one hand in his pocket while the other hand waved around in small circular motions "We may or may not have broken the back door in." He looked up giving the older man a smile while wincing, at Giles look he added "Well it's not like we KNEW she wasn't in danger! Will was worried. Right?" he looked to Willow for backup who was now wearing a look of surprise one her face "Xander! I never said to break down the door! I mean, yeah I was worried but I said 'we should get Giles' and you were all" Willow deepened her voice and took a 'superman' pose "Nooo I HAVE to save Buffy. I'm gonna break down this door like a manly man would do." "Hey! I don't sound anything like that! Giles tell her I don't sound like that!" '_And last night's headache returns' _he started to fold the linen from the couch and let them continue to bicker until he had reached his limit "Enough!" Giles said in a harsh whisper both Willow and Xander snapped their mouths shut and looked at him "Now, Buffy has had a long night and is currently sleeping. So can you please keep it down?" they both nodded knowing he wasn't 'asking' them as much as 'telling' them to politely shut up. There was a few minutes of pure silence while he put the bedding away, Willow and Xander stayed rooted where they had been since they were let in. " And you're both going to help fix the door, whether it be labor or money. Have the two of you had breakfast?" the two shook their heads so Giles left to the kitchen to whip something up. When he was out of earshot Xander leaned over to Willow "yeesh the G-man isn't a morning person is he?" the red head let out a quiet laugh "No he isn't."

As Buffy made her way down stairs she heard quiet voices, the smell of bacon assaulted her nostrils and her stomach growled. She had just made it to the bottom step when Xander noticed her "She's alive! She's aaallliivvvveeeeee" he held out his arms like mummy; Buffy scowled at him before telling him to zip it to which Xander raised hands in surrender "I was just messin Buff" Willow and Xander were sitting at the dining table with plates of eggs, bacon, toast and fruit in front of them. "Morning Buffy! Come and sit Giles just finished making breakfast" Willow said, waving Buffy over so sit with them. "Yes, yes come and eat Buffy" Giles came carrying a pitcher of orange juice once he placed it on the table he pulled out a chair and motioned for his slayer to come sit. As soon as everyone was seated they began eating. Everyone ate their fill, especially Xander the boys stomach was an endless pit Giles thought with a smirk. Willow was helping Xander clean the dishes, they librarian said it wasn't necessary but they… well Willow insisted and having been given her 'resolve' face Giles relented and let them take dish duty. Giles and Buffy sat at the table her glass of OJ still full sitting in front of her, she was swishing her feet back and forth under the table "Did you not want your juice Buffy?" at his inquiry she pushed her glass away from her "Nuh-uh. It's got lumps in it" she scrunched her face as she said it. Giles raised his eyebrows at the action "Has. It _has_ lumps and it's just the pulp you have had it before" Buffy crossed her arm across her chest and said "yeah, well now I _don't_ like them. They're gross!" she stuck her chin in the air, Giles stared at her for a moment not sure how to react to Buffy's behavior, he cleared his throat "Then don't drink it Buffy and while you are at it please drop that tone in your voice" he said with some firmness. They slayer uncrossed her arms "Sorry Giles I don't know where that came from" she feel her cheeks redden at herself for acting like a child; Giles nodded and decided to change the subject. He shifted in his chair to lean his elbows on the table and steeple his fingers "So, would you care to explain to me why you decided to go out patrolling last night?" Buffy winced '_not so much' _she thought when she didn't answer she called her name to get her attention, she looked up at him and shrugged. Giles couldn't help but become annoyed at the action and frowned "A shrug is not an acceptable answer. Now I am going to ask you again, Why did you go patrolling when you were asked not to?" "I don't know! I just did. Alright? I don't know what's the big I mean, I _AM_ the slayer ya know!" as soon as she finished talking she wished she could have taken it back. Buffy couldn't look Giles in the eye so she settled for looking at his shoulder and winced again when she heard the sharp tone in his voice when he spoke "The _big_ is that you were told to stay in but NO instead _I _find you in the woods injured and bleeding, holding a bloody rock as your ONLY defense mechanism!" at this point his voice raised a few notches, not enough to be considered yelling but high enough to make Buffy squirm in her chair "What if I hadn't been the first one to find you? Do you have any idea what went through my mind when I found your abandoned weapons bag? Hmm?!" What _if_ Giles hadn't been the one to come out of the bushes last night? Would she have been able to get away? No. She could barely handle them _when _she had her weapons and with the rock she found she might as well have been waiting to tickle them with a feather. As all these thought ran through her mind she lowered her head so her chin was almost resting on her chest, her lower lip started to tremble and she felt the sting of tears start to prick her eyes and before she knew it a tear slipped down her cheek. Giles was at a loss she had never before reacted like this while getting reprimanded; he watched as she hastily wiped the offending tear with the back of her hand, he was about to speak when Willow and Xander walked in chatting and laughing until they seen their friend. They took in her appearance she was trying to fight back the tears and losing as they silently fell down her face and sniffling, she looked smaller the way Giles' sweats were fitting her. Xander being Xander did what he did best to lighten mood "What did the big ole mean watcher do to my lil Buffster?" he said in a voice as if he was talking to a baby at that Giles did a double take "Me?! i..i..i you can't be serious…" Willow laughed at Giles reaction followed by Xander. Buffy just watched as her tears were slowed by the distraction, watched as the older man frowned at the younger boy who in return shrugged his shoulders while saying "What? I'm just kindin ya G-man" with a goofy smirk. Willow held her wrist up to check the time it was about 9:30 then she looked at Buffy and gave her small smile in which Buffy returned, her tears gone. Her best friend then walked over and sat next to her and tried to lighten the mood, she didn't like 'sad Buffy', while Giles was once again telling Xander not to call him 'G-man'. "Giles really let you have it huh?" Willow asked so that only Buffy could hear; the slayer shook her head yes then her eyebrows furrowed and she shook her no and said "That's just it. He didn't, I mean yeah he is mad like _way_ mad but he didn't say anything I didn't have coming. I don't why I acted like that but I couldn't help it" Willow thought for a moment "Maybe you're just really tired or maybe you're gonna 'start' I always get way too emotional around then" Buffy gave her friend a smile and shook her head "deff not the issue Will" She looked over to Giles who was now getting a lesson on the difference between DC and Marvel while wearing a somewhat bored expression '_Poor Giles.'_ Willow pulled her out of her musing when she leaned over and asked "So. Uh how much trouble are you in?" Buffy let out a groan she really didn't want to think about all the weapons that Giles owned and how it was going to take her to polish them to Giles liking, she loved her watcher but he was perfectionist so there was no she was going get away with a spit and shine. Will gave her a look of sympathy "that bad huh?" The slayer let her head drop to the table and mumbled "Just kill me now!" Willow patted her friends shoulder in support. Giles noticed the look of sympathy on the young girls face and his slayers head on the table "Are you not feeling well Buffy?" Come to think of it she did feel off, she lifted her head to look at her watcher who was now wearing a look of concern "Not sick just… different?" she really didn't know what word to use to describe it but she knew she didn't feel sick. "Different?" Buffy nodded her head "uh-huh like all wonky and it kinda feels like lil buggies are crawling on my brain" she held her hands up and wiggles her fingers to make it look like they were crawling. Xander looked to Will at that moment and mouthed 'buggies?' who just shrugged to signal she didn't know. "Like when a limb goes numb?" Giles probed for further meaning "Are you in any pain?" Buffy shook her while wagging her finger "Nope. I'm right as rain…. Actually I don't even know what that means" she looked at Willow "Do you know what it means?" but before Will could answer Buffy turned to Giles "I bet you know cause you're like the smartest guy I know!" the watcher smiled at the praise. "I do know but right now I think the way you're feeling takes precedence over…" "Awwwww but Giiillllleeesssss I wanna knowwwwww" she drew out her words in almost a whine like fashion, she gave him her best puppy eyes and put her hands together as if begging "Puh-leaseeeeee, please pleaseeeee?" Xander snickered at her actions "How can you say no to that G-ma…Giles?" Giles rolled his and sighed "The expression right as_ something_ has been used in English since medieval times, using a string of comparatives, such as trivet or ninepence. Right as rain emerged in the 19th century and took precedence over all the other forms, possibly because of its pleasing alliteration, and also possibly because rain is perceived as good, and causes growth." Buffy clapped her hands and bounced in her chair "see? I knew you would know. It cause you're smartest guy in the whoooollleeeee, wide world!" she held arms straight up and out at her sides to show them. "Hey Giles do you know what 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' means?" Xander's head popped up at that "Hey yeah I have wonder about that too!" he then looked to the older man and waited for an answer. Giles sat forward "This proverb refers back to mediaeval… oh what am I doing?! Buffy I believe that you're still tired you did have a trying night after all maybe you should rest today, a nap perhaps." At Giles words Buffy stood up so fast that her chair fell back and crashed to floor behind her "No nap!" she stomped her right foot down and crossed her arms. Willow quickly moved out of the way and stood by Giles, who was also standing at this point. "Whoa! Buffy no need for the time warp to 'Buffy: the toddler years" Xander said not knowing whether to laugh or… well actually he just wanted to laugh but with the look Giles was wearing he didn't want to test the waters. "I think it's time the two of you leave. Buffy and I still have a few things to discuss" he said without his eyes leaving Buffy. Xander and Willow looked at reached for a split second before rushing to the door, as he passed Buffy Xander wished her good luck and soon the door closed behind them leaving the watcher and slayer in a stare down. Buffy was looking very defiant with her arms still crossed as she stared at her watcher but when Giles features hadn't wavered she started to lose her confidence in winning this battle. They stayed like this for what seemed like hours to Buffy but in reality it has been 3 minutes. Giles continued to stare, a frown creased his brow "I don't know what has gotten into you this morning but this childish behavior stops now." The tone his voice was sharp and left no room for argument. Finally Buffy averted eyes and stared down at her socked feet. "Now take a moment and calm yourself then head upstairs and get cleaned up. There are clean towel under the sink and I'll leave your clothes on the bed, your jeans are clean but I am afraid I couldn't do anything for top so you will just have to wear another short of mine till I can take you home." By the time he had finished talking his voice and softened he observed Buffy as she stood there looking younger than ever, if possible his sweats even larger on her now. She looked up at Giles "Sorry Giles. Maybe you're right I could probly use a na…" she frowned at the word she was about to use "rest. I could probly use the rest." The watcher nodded then said "Alright, go and shower then we are going to discuss these demons you encountered last night." "Kay."

Buffy stepped out of the shower and steamed billowed around her; she wrapped a towel around her and walked to the sink. The counter came up above her belly button '_could your counter be any taller Giles, geeze.'_ She practically had to stand on the tips of her toes to wipe the fog off the mirror when she caught her reflection she let out a gasp "WHAT THE…" she leaned closer to the mirror, the reflection looking back at her looked young, like way young, 12 or 13 maybe. Buffy's eyes widen as she recognized the reflection as her own. Sure the reflections face was rounder but there was no mistaking that it was her at a younger age. She pulled faces at her reflection which were mirrored back at her. '_What kind of trick mirror is this?_' she thought as she stuck her tongue out at herself and giggled as the her younger self returned the gesture '_maybe Giles charmed it to give himself a confidence boost in the morning?'_ but that didn't seem very Giles like. Well she would just have to ask him when she went downstairs as she turned to leave the bathroom she got lightheaded she closed her eyes leaning in the doorway for support, when the feeling passed she opened her eyes and seen her clothes the bed. She quickly started to change; pulling another one of Giles shirts over her head, this one seemed way bigger than the one she wore last night; it came down to almost her knees. '_oh well,''_ Buffy thought '_it will have to do till I get home' _she then pulled on her jeans, with the while knee, which now were about 3 sizes too big in the wait and length. '_Okay now I'm wiggin out'_ she was about to call out to her watcher when all of sudden it felt like all the air was sucked from her lungs she tried to gasp for air. Buffy fell to her knees and bright colored stars started to appear in the corners of her vision and all her limbs felt like they were on fire, she tried to scream out for Giles but couldn't. She felt tears in eyes as her vision started to fade out, her lungs were screaming for air and she could hear her heartbeat on her ears. Through her tunnel vision she jerked her head to look at where the stairs were, praying and willing Giles to come up and help her, stars swirled in her vision as she finally blacked out fully collapsing to the ground, face down.

Giles was sitting in the living room drinking tea and reading the mornings paper when her head the shower turn off. He thought back on the way Buffy had been acting in the last 12 hours, she seemed to be going through these bouts of acting very juvenile and then reverting back to acting her age at the drop of a hat. The scene she threw after breakfast was by far the most noticeable. A small thud brought him out of his thoughts; he looked up towards the ceiling and called out for Buffy when he received no reply he creased the paper he was holding and tossed it on the coffee table when he stood up. "Buffy?" he called out again as he stood at the bottom of the stairs, when he heard another 'thud' he wasted no time making his way up the stairs. When he first entered his room everything looked completely normal "Buffy?" he made his way further in the room and stood at the foot of the bed. The bathroom door was ajar but the light was off "Alright, this isn't funny. Where are you?" then Giles heard it, a noise he could only describe as gurgling. He followed the noise to the left side of the bed and that's when he seen Buffy's clothes in a pile on the floor; the gurgling noise happened again only this time Buffy's shirt, well his shirt, moved around like something was in it. Giles crept closer to the moving pile and reached a hand out ready to pull the shirt back; he knelt down, grabbed a handful of the cloth and slowly pulled it back just enough to see what underneath. He let out a gasp at what came into view, there lying in his old shirt was baby no more than 6 or 7 months old. "B… Bu… Buffy?" at the sound of his voice the baby cooed and raised its hands, opening and closing them towards Giles. The watcher stared in shock "Bloody hell"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Again, i sadly do not own of the BtVS characters :(**

**AN: Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and followed this story! 3**

Giles stared with wide eyes down at the little gurgling bundle in front of him; she had a small, round cherub face, baby soft waves of short blonde hair with curls at the end, it wasn't long by any means just enough for her not to be bald like most babies. She was currently gnawing on her pudgy little fingers while her other hand a tight hold of the shirt she was laying in. When Buffy noticed the older man watching her she removed her hand from her mouth and held it out to him opening and closing her tiny fist but when the man didn't acknowledge her she let out a small grunt. Giles let out a small chuckle "Still impatient I see" he looked at the small drool covered hand being held out to him and placed a finger in her palm, immediately the baby closed her fingers around it and cooed. Then a thought hit him like a sack of potatoes he had no idea what happened last night not even the type demon Buffy had encountered and now here she was laying in front of as a baby. '_A BABY!_' What was he supposed to do with a baby? Maybe she still had her older self's mind he thought, he sat indian style next to her "Alright… Buffy, do you remember me?" the baby looked up at him and waved her hands above her and kicked her legs cooing "This is serious. Can you blink twice if the answer is yes?" Buffy lost interest in him and started to suck her fingers again. Giles let out a sigh "Well it was worth a try. What am I supposed to do with you? Hmmm?" He needed to consults his books immediately finding a way to reverse this was imperative not only because she was the Slayer but because her mum was due back in a weeks' time and Giles would much rather deal with the Hell Mouth opening then a mum who's looking to make heads roll. He was mentally making a list of books he wanted to research when once again a small grunt pulled him from his a train of thought, he shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked at down at the distraction. Buffy was now in a sitting position looking up at him, the shirt she was wrapped in was now bunched around her waist leaving her bare from there up, she held her hands out to him and bounced on her bottom. Giles looked unsure at first and attentively reached out to pick her up, he hooked his hands under her little armpits and lifted her up to him and in doing so she lost what was left of the shirt covering her. The watcher blushed as he held a naked Buffy to him and hastily grabbed the shirt and wrapped her in it again. This wouldn't do, he was definitely going to need supplies; food, clothes, possibly toys? He didn't know how long she would have to be in this state and diapers. A warm sensation on is thigh made him look as Buffy let out a coo and bounced on his leg. He held Buffy up to see his leg which now sporting a nice wet patch he let out a sigh then said "Yes, we most definitely will be needing diapers" at the sound of his voice Buffy let a squeal and clapped her hands together "Well I am glad you are finding this amusing you little imp"

After a quick change Giles brought the newly de-aged slayer downstairs setting her on the floor, she was wearing a makeshift nappy that he pinned together out of another one of his old shirts. He walked to his bookshelf and started pulling old tomes that he thought would be helpful but he would still need to go to the library and get some from there as well. The watcher walked to his desk and placed the volumes down then looked up at Buffy who was now laying on her stomach eyeing something under the couch she pushed herself to her hands and knees and rocked back and forth a few times but when she picked up one of her hands she fell back to her stomach and let out a frustrated growl. Giles chuckled at her antics '_Well at least I know that you do not know how crawl yet'_ thank the Powers That Be for that then he sat down and opened his first book.

After sometime Giles had made two piles; Books worth researching and books that were a waste of time. He glanced up to check on Buffy only to find where she was laying empty; Giles stood up and practically sprinted around to the other side of the couch and seen two little legs poking out from underneath. He walked over and grabbed them and gently pulled back until Buffy's head was seen and then turned her to face him "Now how did you get all the way under there hmm?" Buffy gurgled at him and grabbed for his glasses with one hand he dodged his head back to avoid her succeeding and noticed her other hand was closed in a tight fist, he sat down on the couch bringing her to sit on his knee "What have you got there little one?" he took her small hand in his and tried to open her it. Buffy squirmed and tried to pull her hand away and grunted at him, Giles opened her fist and in her palm was a button which he took from her and place in it in his pocket. When Buffy realized he took her new found treasure she started to bounce in his lap, waving her arms as her lower lips started to tremble '_uh oh!' _ Was his only thought before her face crumpled and she let out a loud wail. The watcher winced at how loud his slayer was being he held her tight so that she would slip off his lap with all her movements "Now, now none of that" when his words had no effect he was at a loss at what to do. Buffy continued to cry, after a moment he stood with her in his arms and held her to his chest and patted her bottom as he swayed back and forth making a 'shooshing' noise. The small slayer fought him at first still crying out but soon she laid her on his shoulders still whimpering, he continued to pat her until her until her breathing became even and she was no longer moving. Giles turned his head down to look at his shoulder and sure enough Buffy had fallen asleep he gave a small smile at the sight, her cheek was pressed against him and her mouth was slightly parted and some drool escaped and fell to his shoulder. He took her upstairs and laid her down in the middle of his bed then put both his pillows on each side of her so that she wouldn't fall off. He looked at her one last time before heading back downstairs.

He immediately went to the phone and dialed for Willow after the third ring she answered. Giles asked to come over as soon as possible and told he would explain everything to her once she arrived. About 20 minutes later Willow arrived and the first thing she noticed was all the books on Giles' desk "We got another big bad on the loose? Time for the Scooby's to assemble?" "hmm? Oh yes but that's not actually why I asked you over though I do require your assistance" he wasn't sure how to let her know about Buffy's condition "Umm okay sure," she looked around the room then back to Giles "where's Buffy?" The older man open his mouth to answer but before he could utter one syllable an ear piercing cry came from upstairs, Willow covered her ears as Giles headed for the stairs at a quickened pace. After recovering from the initial shock of the noise coming from upstairs she followed the same route that Giles had just took. The scene she walked into at the top of the stairs made her jaw drop as she stood there rooted to one spot; Giles had just picked up a crying baby up from his bed and was holding it to his chest while softly rubbing his hand up and down the baby's back, murmuring softly. Giles held Buffy to him talking softly in her ear "hush now little one. It's alright I've got you" he continued to rub her back. Buffy nuzzled her face against his neck and her cries quieted that's when Giles noticed Willow standing there with a look that could only be described as shock "Willow…" she snapped back to reality "You have a baby? When did you have a baby? Where's the baby from? Okay I know _where_ babies come from but where did _that _one come from? Is it yours? Are you babysitting? Are you its Uncle? Dad?" her eyes widen at the last word "Does Buffy know? Why wouldn't she tell me? Where _is_ Buffy?!" Willow stopped her rambling long enough to take a breath and that's when Giles decided to speak "Now this may cause you shock so it might be best if you sat down" when she shook her head no he continued "This," he motioned to the baby in his arms who now found interest in his glasses once again "_is_ Buffy." The red head stared, opened mouth as she watched the baby try to swipe the glasses from Giles face; pulling his head back to be out of reach, he gently grabbed her hand pulling it away from his face and turned her to have her back to his chest so that she was now facing Willow. Looking at the baby and watcher in front of her, she held a hand to her own head "That's," she brought hand to point at the baby "Buffy? Like _Buffy _Buffy?" Giles nodded and said "I know it is a lot to take in, trust me I am still finding myself trying to cope with it." "How do we fix her? Can she be fixed? What happened?!" Willow started to sound panicked as she looked to Giles for answers and he wished he had the answers to all the young girls' questions, he sighed "I… I wish I knew Willow but I never actually had the chance to hear what Buffy encountered last night therefor I don't know what it is exactly that we are dealing with." Willow stood there for a moment digesting everything that had just happened then spoke "Okay, so you said you didn't call me here to research… then what do you need me to do?" Giles was impressed at how quickly Willow was able to pull herself together and get straight to business "I need supplies." Was all he was able to say before she gave him an excited smile and said "You mean like for a spell?" Giles brow furrowed slightly at how quick Willow jumped to magic but decided to discuss it at a later time "No, I need you to take my card," he paused long enough to hand Buffy over to Willow, who stiffened, then reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet and pulled out his credit card he held it up for Willow to see. "Now, I need you to go get clothing, diapers, bottles and anything you think will be of use. I'm not certain how long she will be this way but it is better to be prepared than not." He held the card out for Willow and Buffy reached out for it cooing and gurgling, Giles pulled the plastic card back and wagged a finger "ah ah not for you little imp. Don't worry about the spending limit but purchase with necessity please." he handed the card to Willow and then took Buffy back. The baby let out a giggle and put her arms around Giles neck and he couldn't hold back the smile that touched his lips. Giles headed downstairs and Willow followed and soon after she left on her 'mission' leaving slayer and watcher alone once again.

As Willow and Xander walk up to the front door of Giles' apartment they could hear the loud cries of a baby. With everything she needed to buy Willow thought it would be best to call Xander for the extra hands besides it was Saturday, his dad was off and had long since passed out so he "borrowed" the car. She had also filled him in on Buffy's predicament. They reached the door and having both their hands full Xander knocked on the door with his foot, the door opened quickly to reveal a flustered watcher holding a screaming slayer. They quickly entered and put the bags and boxes down. Xander covered his ears and semi-yelled over the crying baby "Doesn't she come with a mute button?!" while Willow dug through the bags "If she did don't you think I would have had the sense to use it by now?!" Giles snapped in reply as he started to bounce the baby in arms for what felt like the thousandth time in the last 2 hours. Willow rushed passed the two males in the room and down the hall; the dark haired teen watched her abandon ship "See? Even Will has the right idea! Head for the hills!" Buffy's crying for the last hour was starting to put his teeth on edge, he had tried everything, and here was Xander who couldn't handle it for 3 minutes! He opened his mouth with words of venom on the tip of his tongue when Willow rushed back in shaking a baby bottle, she held it out for Giles and waited as he adjusted Buffy so the she was laying in the crook of his elbow. Giles took the bottle tried to place in Buffy's mouth; it took a few attempts before Buffy mouth latched on and started to hurriedly guzzle the warm formula Willow had made. Giles let his shoulders sag in relief when the tears and whimpers stopped, he looked down at the baby in his arms who was looking back at him as she suckled the bottle; the sheen of tears still in her eyes. Xander uncovered his ears and shook his head "Wow she is louder than a tornado horn!" he looked to Giles who had made his way to the arm chair and sat down cradling the baby in his arms, holding the bottle to her mouth. Willow and started unpacking everything they had bought was showing Giles everything as she did "We got clothes and lots of diapers, some bibs, wipes, baby shampoo and body wash, some toys cuz you know she's a baby, formula… Oh and baby food" "Baby food?" the watcher repeated though Xander was the one to answer "Yeah, well we didn't really know _exactly_ what you'd need so we asked the sales lady and she said at Buffy's age she could eat baby food but she would still need formula too." "Uh huh we kinda had to guess her age on her weight from when I held her earlier and with the size clothes we bought it looked like I was right." Willow added. It was quiet; the only sound that could be heard was the ticking of the clock on the wall and Buffy sucking at her bottle. Giles deep in thought, Willow had unpacked everything and put the receipts in the desk drawer so they could return whatever wasn't used and Xander decided it was too quiet "So that's really Buff huh?" Giles looked at the young boy "Yes it is, I believe saying we have research ahead of us would be an understatement, but with not knowing what happened to Buffy during her patrol we have nothing pointing us in the right direction" Willow was sitting next to Xander on the couch picking fake lint from her jeans with a look that was unreadable "Something on your mind Willow?" the watcher asked with concern, she shook her head no but didn't look up. Giles knew it had to be hard for her, well, both of them not knowing whether they would be able to change their best friend back or not "We will… I will do everything in my power to fix this we just…" "Well what if the research doesn't give us diddly squat?" she spat, Xander scooted away from a bit "Whoa there Will, we haven't even started researchin yet no need to be thinking in the neg already" he threw and arm over her shoulder and looked at Giles for help "We got this sitch under control, right G-man?" The watcher was looking at Buffy who now on her last ounce of milk "There hasn't been anything thus far that we haven't been able to overcome and this will not be any different" he said with certainty and looked at the two teens sitting on his couch, Xander squeezed Willow to him "See Will? We got this! NBD"

Later that evening Xander and Willow were lying on their stomachs each with a different book in the middle of living room floor after moving the coffee table, Buffy was also sitting on the floor in front of them in a fresh diaper, a new onesie with little pink and red hearts all over it and playing was with some plastic blocks that rattled, squeaked and some even lit up; she was fully content. Giles had stopped his research to pay for the pizzas that were currently at his front door, he thanked the delivery boy and closed the door. Xander sat back on his knees so that he was sitting on his calves and clapped his together saying "Alright! Foods here!" Buffy dropped her block and copied Xander clapping her little chubby hands together saying 'oooh, oooh' Giles looked on as the two older 'kids' started to laugh which earned them a fit of giggles from his little slayer. The watched went and picked Buffy up from the floor and told Xander and Willow to come and eat. "You don't have to tell me twice!" Xander said as he jumped up and hurried to the table for a slice, Willow rolled her eyes and followed after him. Giles sat at the head of the table with Buffy on his lap; Willow tied a bib around the baby's neck before she sat down and grabbed a slice of pizza for herself. Looking at the small jars in front of him he picked one up and read the label 'Sweet Potato & Turkey' the second one read 'Blueberry Apple' he opened the turkey and Buffy smacked her hands on the table in front of her a few times, Giles spooned some the food and brought it towards Buffy mouth who in turn opened wide. He soon realized he was getting more on her face then in her mouth, though it wasn't helping that she would spit out more than she was eating. 'Thank the heavens for whoever created the bib' Giles thought as more dribbled down her chin and onto her bib covered chest. After a messy, very messy, dinner Willow and Xander helped clear the table. Xander looked at the time, it was getting late, and shifted from foot to foot, a nervous tick that didn't go without being missed by Giles "Everything alright Xander?" he asked, his voice laced with concern, the boy looked to the older man "Who me? Pshhhh," he made a movement with one hand as if to brush it off "Oh yeah I'm chill. You know me cool as a cucumber" _until my dad discovers that I took the car while he was in alcohol coma _he thought as he gave a forced smile, which Giles seen right through. Giles put a food covered Buffy on the blanket that was in the middle in the living room and walked to Xander and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder saying "If for ANY reason and I mean any reason Xander, you need me do not hesitate to call me. Alright?" he looked the younger man in the eyes who sheepishly nodded in agreement "I mean it Xander" Xander raised his hands in submission "Okay, okay I get it G-man call you if things get hairy. I get it" Giles let the slip of the horrid nickname slip with a roll of his eyes "whadduya mean hairy?" Willow asked from her place on the floor with Buffy, looking back and forth between Giles and Xander, who's slightly paled at her question "Oh, nothing to worry your head over just a little project I gave Xander to do for me since my hands are now full with Buffy's situation" "Oh okay" she answered and turned back to Buffy who was blowing raspberries. Giles turned back to Xander and said in a voice only he could hear "I mean it" he received a slight nod and a smirk in response then Xander's eyes shifted to the clock again. Giles cleared his throat and spoke "I do believe it is getting late and I should be getting this little slayer to bed… if she anything like her older self the more sleep, the better and I don't want to risk it" Willow got up from the floor and grabbed her bag said goodnight to Buffy and then to Giles, Xander did the same "We'll try and be back around noon'ish?" Willow looked to Giles for confirmation, who was watching Buffy try and crawl for the blocks in front of her and falling to her stomach again "Giles?" the librarian looked up at the red head with confusion on his face "I said noon'ish" "Hmm Oh yes I believe any time after noon should be alright…yes." He answered them as he cleaned his glasses, soon after that they left. Giles looked at the clock 9:45pm then looked to Buffy who was in middle of rolling across the blanket, making her way to the blocks. He smiled "So that's how you found yourself under the couch this afternoon" Giles bent to pick her up and made a face at how covered in food she was and also for the fact that it smelled like she could use a diaper change, he held her out arm's length saying "How can one so small become so dirty?" Buffy held her arms out in front of her, opening and closing her hands; Giles took the hint and brought her to his chest as Buffy gurgled and cooed, wrapping her little hands around his neck. "I think a bath is in order then bed, how does that sound to you?" he asked as her looked down at her, she looked up at him put both of her hands on either side of his face and started babbling "I'll take that as a yes" he smiled.

Too afraid to let her sit in the 'big' tub alone he decided that the kitchen sink would be perfect to give her a bath in. Soon he had Buffy, who was happily splashing away, sitting the makeshift baby tub. He squeezed the baby shampoo into his hand; running his hands through her baby locks until he built up a good lather, he dipped his hands into the warm water to rinse them free off the soap and picked up a plastic cup and dunked under the water to fill it. Buffy continued to splash her hands, giggling, he shielded her eyes as he poured the water over head to rinse her hair. Squeezing baby wash onto a light pink washcloth he began to wash her, when he got to her rib area she let out a high squeal and gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen "Oh you like that do you?" he smiled at the baby who was now splashing water all over the place and continued to wash her. Giles wrapped her in a fluffy towel, grabbed the bottle he had made and took her upstairs. Once she was diapered and changed into a sleeper he laid her in the middle of the bed and changed himself. Picking her up as her sat on the edge of the bed laid her in the crook of his elbow and put the bottle to her lips and she eagerly accepted it. Buffy watched Giles as she drank, her eyes slowly closing before she popped them back open to stare at him; she did this several times. "Always the fighter" Giles sighed as he stood and started to rock her to sleep as she drank, he pulled the empty bottle from her mouth and her eyes peeked open so he started to pat her bottom and sway and soon she was lulled into slumber. The watcher pulled back the blankets and arranged the pillows to make a barrier along the edge before laying Buffy down on the right side of the bed, shifted as he placed her on the bed and let out a sigh but stayed asleep. Giles watched her for a moment before heading downstairs to grab some books that he wanted to go through tonight and then headed back up for bed. Lying on the left side of the mattress with his back up against the headboard; he was flipping the page when he glanced at the alarm clock on his night stand, 12:37am, he took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes thinking research was getting him nowhere and that it was time to get some sleep. He placed the book on the small pile by his bed and turned off the light then laid flat on his back staring at the ceiling for a few moments before he turned his head to look at the sleeping baby next to him "What did you get yourself into?" he asked quietly as he brushed the soft fringe on her forehead then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

_WAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!_ Giles shot straight up in bed, bewildered and looked around a few times before he realized the crying, well screaming, was coming from the baby beside him then he looked at the clock, 1:20am. Giles let out a groan and turned the light on as Buffy continued to cry. He picked her up and just as he thought, she was wet. The watcher laid her down and quickly removed the wet diaper and replaced it with a dry one, zipper her back up and held her to his chest and patted her back; it didn't take her long to fall asleep this time. Giles laid her back down and then crawled into bed himself, turned off the light and fell back to sleep.

_WAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! _ Again Giles eyes shot open and he looked to the alarm clock, 3:34am, he sat up and ran a hand through his messy hair then looked to Buffy who was still crying and kicking out her feet. Sighing, he picked her up and headed downstairs to make a bottle. Once made, he checked the temperature and places it in her mouth and headed back upstairs for bed "You, little one are turning this into quite the long evening". It was 4:50am when Giles heard her cry out again, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and turned to pick his young charge up as he let out a yawn… _Long evening indeed._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: All BtVS characters belong Joss Whedon. Not me. Sadly... but the world continues to turn ;P**

**Warning: I put the warnings up in chapter2 but to be safe... there may be 'spanking' in the story. Im certain yet but better safe then sorry**

After what seemed like 'the night that would never end' to Giles, he brought a wide awake Buffy downstairs for some breakfast; for himself he had toast and tea and for Buffy, another messy round of baby food… cereal. After cleaning her up and a changing, diaper and clothes, he put her on the blanket in the middle of the living room floor placing different toys around her. She sat babbling away to herself as she played while Giles sat on the floor next to her with his nose in a book. Soon Buffy looked up and realized that her 'talking' was going unnoticed and she became annoyed, she began bouncing on her bottom and waving her arms while grunting and still the older man didn't look up, her bottom lip poked out. Giles seemed to have finally found references to incidents of de-aging but nothing stating or documenting how or why it had occurred; he was deep in thought when something hit him square in the forehead. Startled, he dropped the book to his lap and looked up just in time to see Buffy with her little arm drawn back and another block in her hand, he held up a finger "Don't even think about it you little imp" trying hard not to smile at the determination on her face "That's not very nice Buffy. No throwing." He scooted over to her after he placed the book on the couch. When she seen he was making his way over to her she brought her arm down and gave him an almost toothless grin, Giles sat indian style in front of her "Now what why is it you felt I needed some sense knocked into me?" He asked her with a smile and although he hadn't realized it his voice had changed when talking to Buffy and rubbed where the baby block had hit him; Buffy she giggled at him and leaned forward to put her hands on both of his knees then got to her knees and pushed up to look at him then nodded her head as she babbled with enthusiasm. Every now and then the Watcher would nod saying 'oh really?', 'mm hmmm' and talking to her as she 'responded' back. He put his fingers under her hands and she grasped them, he held them higher and she stood as he did, she was wobbly but with his support she stayed standing. "Well look at you standing! I bet you skip crawling and jump straight to running" he gave her a huge smile and she bounced, bending at her knees. _'What are you talking about you old coot she won't be this age for THAT long'_ his brows furrowed at the thought but Buffy bringing his hand to her mouth brought him to the present time, he pulled his wet hand back "Well imp you now have my full attention, what would you like to do?" Buffy released his hands and immediately fell to bottom and then she worked her way onto Giles lap, turning to face him she held her hands up to him. Taking the hint he lifted up and held her out at arm's length "Is this what you wanted? Hmm?" Buffy kicked her legs while reaching out for him and blowing raspberries making a little dribble of drool spilled down her chin. All of a sudden Giles fell to his back and held Buffy up in the air above him; she broke into a fit of giggles, kicking her legs and waving her arms. After her laughter started to die down he brought his arms down so that she was almost lying on his chest and stomach then pushed her back up above him and she broke out in laughter all over again, he did this several times and each time she would let out the most contagious sound of laughter he had ever heard; soon he found himself laughing just as much along with her. On the last time down he brought her to fully lay on him, her head resting on his chest, he placed on hand on the small of her back and the other stroked her silky baby hair. Buffy just laid there being lulled to sleep from his ministrations and the sound of her watcher's steady heartbeat.

It was around 1pm when Willow and Xander showed up but when they knocked no one answered; Xander tried the door and to his non-surprise it pushed open, Giles always had his door unlocked for the Scooby's in case of emergencies, the two teenagers walked in and Xander turned to close the door when her Willow let out a soft 'Awe'; he turned to see what the fuss was about and came to stand next to the red head. When he reached her side he started to say 'what's up' only to be caught off with Willows finger to his lips as she shushed him and pointed with her other hand, Xander followed the path of her pointing finger to see Giles asleep, laying on his back with a tiny sleeping slayer on his chest while one of his arms was wrapped protectively around her and his other under his head as an improvised pillow. Xander let out a dramatic sigh and brought his hands together under his chin saying "Well ain't this a Kodak moment?" Willow smirked and shoved him playfully then stopped to think "Actually," she dug through her bag "That's not a bad idea" she pulled out disposable camera and snapped a shot of the two sleeping on the floor. "Uh, so do you always just carry a camera everywhere you go?" Xander asked in a hushed voice, Willow pulled a face "What? No. It's an assignment for photography, ya know, Capture life's moments no matter how small they seem. Also it's a black and white cam for that artistic pop" the black haired boy looked at Buffy and Giles and pointed with his thumb "That's art? So you mean I could be artistic by taking pictures of you while you sleep?" He looked to Willow who had a weird look on her face then said "Uh, I actually just heard how creepy that sounded, Forget it." Willow shook her "Forgotten." Then suggested going through some of the books on their own till Giles woke up. They were sitting at the desk skimming entries of past watchers journals when Xander spoke "Ya know I still don't get how sleeping is one of your life's little moments … I mean, come on we do that like 10 hours a day!" he flipped the cover of his journal shut, Willow rolled her eyes and marked her page "No Xander _you _sleep 10 hours a day. Us normal human beings sleep for about 8 hours IF we are lucky" "All I'm saying is, is that you do sooooo much more then sleep!" he leaned back in his chair to look at her Willow shifted in her chair to face him "Well it's not like I can take pictures of what WE actually do all the time. Can you imagine?" she held up a book pretending it was a photo "Here is a thrilling shot of my best friend Buffy staking a vampire. OH! And here we have her watcher Giles though you might know him as Sunnydale's very own high school librarian, decapitating some random demon on Tuesday!" Xander shrugged his shoulders "Okay, okay I see your point Will" then his eyes lit up "You could be the next Peter Parker!" when Willow showed no sign of getting it he continued "You know, he took pictures of Spiderman and sold them to the Daily Bugle!" Again Willow rolled her eyes "Yeah except Peter _was _Spidey and Buffy doesn't wear a mask" her eyes shifted to the book in front of her and changed the subject "So there is this entry about a reversal spell for a de-aging curse and all the ingredients will be easy to get our hands on" Xander laced his fingers behind his head "Cool, a spell. No muss no fuss." And then brought his feet to rest up on the desk "I mean until Giles hears then we'll have to try every other to cure the Buffster before we try magic." Willow slumped in her chair "Ugh. You're right," He cheeks puffed out as she blew the hair out of her face "I don't see what the big deal is though!" Xander was about to answer when he heard rustling behind him, they turned to see both Giles and Buffy coming to. Giles was the first of the two to open his eyes, Buffy squirmed a bit before fully waking up upon which she started to whine; Giles sat up holding her to him and reassuring the young slayer softly, that's when he noticed the two teens sitting at his desk. He let out a yawn the said "How long have you two been here?" Xander checked his watch "About 45 minutes. The two of you look so peaceful that we didn't have the heart to wake ya" with that Giles stood and cracked his back then sat on the couch, lying Buffy down in front of him "Willow if you would so kind as to hand me a diaper and the powder please"

Giles handed Buffy off to Willow after she was changed and right away the red head started cooing and 'baby talking' , the watcher walked to waste bin and disposed of the soiled diaper. When he came back from the kitchen he sat at the desk with Xander and tapped the boy's shoes, Xander then lowered his feet to the ground with goofy grin at the semi-stern look on the older man's face. Giles noticed the books spread across his desk "Were you able to find anything useful?" he took off his glasses to clean them "If by useful you mean nothing then yes, we found lots of useful" Giles looked at the younger man "Actually I was hoping for more the actual definition of useful" Xander thought for moment then started to say "Well Willo…" Buffy cooed at Willow who stacking blocks so she could knocked them down, the young teen girl looked up "Then no, we found nada, zip, zilch" Giles sighed and leaned back "The same for me also. At least, so far. I will have to check some of the tomes at the library I suppose." Willow could feel Xander's eyes burning into the side of her head as she avoided his stare and continued to stack blocks for Buffy. "Well it won't hurt to finish going through what books we have left here." Xander coughed it was obvious that it was forced but when Giles didn't look up from his book he coughed again. Willow snapped her head to look at Xander with a glower and asked with a tight lip "Do you need a cough drop Xander?" Giles lifted his head to look at the boy, Xander looked from Giles to Willow "No but I think I might be coming down with a _SPELL_ of the flu. Isn't it funny how one moment you're feelin' perfectly healthy then _POOF_ like _MAGIC_ you're sick" he tilted his head towards Giles direction and raised his eyebrows looking at the red head, who subtly shook her head no. "Xander if you aren't feeling well maybe you should go home and rest. The last thing we need is a sick and de-aged Buffy." The boy shook his head no "Naw, I'm not sick. It was just a tickle" Giles looked at Xander "If you're sure…" "Oh yeah! Totes sure G-ma… uh Giles"

A feeding, a diaper change and a nap later they found themselves still researching. Buffy was asleep upstairs so it was quite except for the occasional sound of turning pages that is until Giles slammed his book shut; both teens looked up startled and the librarian gave them a guilty look "I apologize. I just feel that we are…" "Looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack?" Xander finished

"Yes, something like that" Giles removed his glasses and rubbed his burning eyes and leaned back in further back in his armchair closing his eyes. Willow gave him a sympathetic smile then looked down at the spell in front of her; she had been studying it and taking notes on how to perform the incantation, Xander noticed she had the same book in front of her from earlier "Say Giles," the man opened his eyes "Let's pretend that we found a spell that says we can reverse the whole baby effect… could it work?" Giles pondered the thought and then sat up "I don't see why it wouldn't" Willow gave Xander a triumphant smile when Giles continued "Though in Buffy's case we don't know what exactly caused her de-aging. For all we know it could be a curse, a spell or a side effect of the demons she came across during her patrol so using a reversal spell without being fully educated first could have dire ramifications. Especially if the incantation was performed by a novice or incorrectly." Xander nodded his head "Yeah that's what I think too. Dire Ramifi… whatchamacallits" he threw Willow an 'I told you so' look. Soon Buffy woke up and Giles went to get her, as soon as he was out earshot Willow threw her pillow at Xander "What was that?!" she asked in a hushed voice

"What was what?" he pushed the pillow aside and gave the red head an indignant look.

"You know what!" Willow crossed her arms "You trying to tip the fuzz off?!"

"Tip the fuzz? Okay no more mobster movies for you and Uh no, but you have been wearing your 'resolve' face since you found that spell and that's only gonna get ya in deep with the G-man" Xander warned as he watched his friends face crumble, he moved to the floor to sit with her "hey why the long face?"

"You don't think I can do it that's why you trying to tell Giles"

"I just don't want you or Buff to get hurt. You heard Giles they are a lot of variables that could make this go in the danger zone"

"Not if someone had my back!" she looked up hopefully to which Xander shifted uncomfortably

"I dunno Will…"

"Come on, I swear I'll do ALL the research and everything you just have to be there… for you know… moral support. Puh-leaseeee" She gave him her best puppy eyes. He threw his hands up in defeat dramatically

"Fine. FINE! I got you're 6 Will. Just call me Mr. Reinforcement" she threw her arms around saying he was the best friend anyone could have asked for. _Or the stupidest. Just make sure that's what my tombstone reads when Giles kills us both for doing this_ he thought glumly as he half-heartedly hugged her back.

Giles came down the stairs with Buffy 'talking' animatedly to him bobbing her head as she did. He came to sit on the arm of the couch still holding Buffy on his side, he started talking to Willow and Xander about watching Buffy after school tomorrow so he could run the library to get the books he would need for further research. The small slayer took this as her opportunity to strike, she reached up and plucked the glasses from her watcher face and promptly put them in her mouth .The two teens stifled their laughter as Giles frowned down at Buffy pulling her hand away from her mouth and removing his glasses, he placed them on the table then turned back to his mini slayer and wagged a finger at her then said "No. Those are not for you to play with" in a semi-stern voice. Buffy looked up at him with wide eyes and her bottom lips poked out as she sniffled, her eyes became glossy with unshed tears and Giles immediately began to feel guilty as her lip began to tremble. When the first tear slipped from her eye he felt about 2 inches tall, he stood up as she started to cry and supported her against him and he started to rock her, patting her back.

"Sheesh Giles no need to be a big old meanie!" Xander joked as Buffy had crocodile tears rolling down her face. Giles scowled at the boy as murmured softly into his slayers ear about having her own toys and that he didn't mean to 'snap' at her. Willow stood up and grabbed one the flashing blocks and stood next to Giles, facing Buffy "Hey now Buff no need to cry. You don't want those stinky old glasses anyways. See?" she held up the flashing block for Buffy to see "This is wayyyyyyy more fun!"

"Yeah!" Xander added as he started to stack the blocks on the floor and as soon as he had Buffy's attention he pretended to knock the stack over "Oh mannnn" he put his hands to his head and the little slayer started to laugh with a watery smile. Crisis averted, Giles handed Buffy down to Xander, who stiffened at holding her for the first time until Willow came to re-stack the blocks. The librarian sent them a silent thank you as he went to wipe of his glasses. The red head watched him leave the room and when the coast was clear she said "So, I can get everything we need from the Magic shop except a strand of Buffy's hair and we will need her with us"

Xander shrugged "well that's easy she has a head full of em" he rubbed Buffy's head and she reached up to swat hit hand away, Willow shook her head

"No. It's has to be from the age you wish the subject to return to"

"Oh okay so we get it from her hairbrush. Right?" he looked up from stacking the blocks

This time Willow shook her head yes then thought for a moment "We can take her with us to her place when we have her and just tell Giles we are going to fix the door and take her to the park!" she said excitedly

"I dunno Will…" Xander started to feel nervous about this whole 'going behind Giles back' thing

"Xand we got this. Easy peasy. Okay?" she smiled encouragingly at her best friend then handed Buffy a block that was out of her reach. He let out a sigh and slumped his shoulders "Okay, when are we gonna do this?

"Do what?" came the accented voice of Buffy's watcher. Both Willow and Xander stiffened and looked at each other with widened eyes.

"Um, study. Yeah! Study" Willow answered and looked to Xander for help

"Yeah we uhhh have this thing due for a uhhh class and you know Will always wantin' to study" The teen boy added, not looking in the direction of the watcher afraid he would call their bluff.

"Well if you have studies by all means go. It is getting late in the evening and you do have class in the morning" at Giles words Xander looked up at the watcher "What uh… are you gonna do about Buff missin school? Are you missin too?" The older man made his way to the armchair and sat "I suppose I'll have to call out for her and myself… Willow?" the red head turned her head to look "yeah?"

"Would you mind being Mrs. Summers on the phone in the morning? Excusing her for the remainder of the week, as precaution."

"Sure, No problem. I'm on it" she smiled and Xander got up to pass Buffy to Giles, when the watcher was occupied Willow put the book with the reversal spell into her bag "Ready to go?" she asked her friend. "Ready as I'll ever be" Xander said as he put his books back on the desk. Giles looked to Buffy who was gnawing at her chubby fist "Well little one what shall we do for dinner?" Xander stopped on his way to the door and turned his head "Dinner?"

Willow grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door "We can grab something on the way. My treat" shutting it behind them. Giles chuckled at their actions and Buffy mimicked his laughter not wanting to be left out. He looked at the time, it was closer to 7pm "Well it looks like it is just the two us little imp until tomorrow anyways" Buffy bounced his lap and smiled showing her two little teeth poking out of her bottom gum. He set Buffy on the floor and gave her a few toys then turned to get her food from the kitchen. When Buffy looked up and seen her watcher gone she began to whimper letting out a long howling cry; Giles, who was in the kitchen, dropped the baby food he had in his hands and ran into the living faster than he could imagine. As soon as Buffy seen him she lifted her arms up, opening and closing her hands with big tears rolling down her cheeks. Giles rushed to pick her up looking around for what had scared her; bringing her to his shoulder he rubbed her back and bounced her in his arms, she wrapped her arms around his neck burying her face against him. The watcher waited until she had quieted down then sat on the couch still holding her to him; He talked softly to her as he ran fingers through her hair.

"What happened that has you all worked up?" he asked gently, Buffy lifted her head to see him and sniffled she leaned her head forward so that her forehead was on his chin. Giles couldn't help it, he put his lips to the crown of her head and gave her soft kiss "hmm I have a mess in the kitchen waiting for me so, you sit here…" he sat her one the floor again handing her a noisy rattle Willow had purchased, which she gladly took hold of shaking it all over the place "and I am going clean that up then get some food into you"

When Giles turned to leave Buffy started to fuss. He stopped, looking back at her and she stopped. Giles thought for a moment then continued to walk to the kitchens doorway when heard the whimpers coming from Buffy so he called out "Now, now love you don't have to cry I'm just in the kitchen" when she heard his voice she stopped her fussing and listened for him then talked back to him. Hearing her acknowledge him he continued to move about the kitchen, cleaning the broken baby food jar off the floor as he continued to talk out loud to his slayer.

Standing in the kitchen he opened the cupboard and read some of the baby food out loud to her "Hmmm what would you like to eat tonight? Let's see," he scanned the labels "We have Apples with chicken, Macaroni with beef, Chicken Noodle or Ham with Gravy. What's your fancy?" he listened to her babble back "alright Chicken Noodle it is" then pulled it from the pantry along with a 'fruit'.

"Miss Summers you have made an excellent choice" he set the jars on the table and went to fetch Buffy, who was grinning up at him with raised arms. Settling with her in his lap Giles opened the first jar, scooped some food up and put the spoon to Buffy's mouth; she opened without hesitation. Several spoonfulls later realized he had made a mistake in forgetting to put a bib on, he watched as dribble and baby food made its way down her chin and onto her once clean clothes. Giles tried to scoop some of the food off her chin but as soon as he was close enough Buffy reached up and grabbed the spoon getting her hand full of food; he pulled the spoon away "No, no, no" he put the spoon down to grab a napkin. Buffy smacked her hands on the table cooing, she brought them up and smacked them down again only this time hitting the spoon making fling off the table and into Giles' chest making him stop his reaching to look down at his newly 'decorated' shirt. The watcher rolled his eyes towards the heavens saying a prayer for patience. Buffy giggled at his face and brought her hand to rest on his cheek, smearing chicken noodle there as she did. Giles pulled a hanky from his pocket and wiped his face and her hand; he recovered the spoon, cleaned it and proceeded to try and feed her again. The rest of the feeding period went on almost smoothly until Buffy kept grabbing for the spoon. Finally, since there were only a few bites left, he let her have it and watched as she brought to her mouth and began to bite the rubber coating at the base. Buffy was happily gnawing away when she heard Giles chuckle, she pulled the spoon from her mouth and stared at it then at him then back at the spoon; smiling she held the spoon up towards his face while she bounced in his lap. He went to take the spoon thinking she was offering it back but when he took hold of it she pulled her hand back and grunted. Giles watched as she held the spoon out again looking at him expectantly, confused, he just looked back at her until she started trying to push the spoon closer to him "Oh um no thank you" he shook his head and lowered her hand. Only Buffy wasn't having it; she shook her and pushed the spoon upwards again only this time she had her eyebrows furrowed and grunted a little louder. Giles let out a sigh and looked around as if to check if someone was watching him then proceeded to 'eat' out of the spoon Buffy offered "om nom nom" and Buffy laughed with delight and pushed the spoon up again to which Giles repeated his earlier actions.

"Oh yes that quite delicious. Thank you." He rubbed his belly "Mmm, Mmm good" when she held the spoon up again he held his up and shook his head "Oh no I couldn't possibly. Why don't you finish it off?" He took the spoon back and she let him. He scooped the last of the food onto the spoon and held out for Buffy, she opened her mouth and leaned forward capturing the spoon in her tiny mouth. After she had swallowed she patted her belly trying to mimic Giles earlier actions and bobbed her head making "Mmmmm" noises. A smile spread across his face and soon it turned to laughter which was joined by the babbling giggles of his slayer.

Giles decided to bathe Buffy right after dinner and he thought she came out drier than him afterwards. They were sitting on the floor in the living room and rolling a small ball back and forth, well as well as a baby could anyways. Soon Buffy was laying her stomach reaching for some blocks while Giles was skimming thru some books and finding it fruitless. He looked to check on Buffy and seen she was on her hands and knees facing towards him with determination written all over her face, he moved the book off his lap and sat to face her; there was about 3ft of distance between them.

Giles watched as she lifted her hand and moved it out in front of her then tried to move her knee forward only to fall forward she did this several times and grunted with frustration each time. "It's alright imp. Try again" he encouraged softly. Buffy pushed herself up again and looked over to Giles before looking down at her hands, she lifted her hand and moved it forward again putting on the floor then slowly moved her knee forward, stopped and looked up at Giles who nodded his head, she moved her other hand forward soon followed by her other knee. Giles held his breath with each movement as he looked on.

"That's it Buffy. You're doing it!" he said with a wide smile as she reached her half-way mark. Giles waved his hands in front of him in a 'come here' motion and continued to praise and encourage Buffy with each shuffle forward she made. The watcher held his hands out for her as she neared him his fingers twitching "You've got it. There you go!"

Buffy crawled up to his legs which were crossed and put her hands on them pushing herself up with a look of triumph. Giles clapped and 'cheered' for her accomplished task. Buffy sat back so she was sitting on her calves and clapped too as she laughed, Giles lifted her and held her above him with a smile on his face as she squealed in delight still clapping her hands.

"An excellent show imp!" He sat her down on his lap and brushed a hand through her hair. Buffy turned in his lap and tried to get climb to her knees, Giles winced as her knees came a little too close for comfort to a certain part of his anatomy so he helped steady her by putting his hand under her armpits.

"And just where do you think you are going?" he asked as he pushed his arms into the air above him bringing a laugh out of Buffy. "I suppose with you crawling now I'll have to _really_ keep an eye on you" when he brought her down to him she pushed on his shoulders using all the strength a 7 month old could muster; Thinking she wanted down he sat her on the floor in front of him only to have crawl back onto his lap and get to her knees, pushing at his shoulders again as she grunted. Giles tried to decipher what in the world she was trying to tell him then something clicked "Do you want up? Uhmm fly?" Buffy just continued to push his shoulders '_Of course she doesn't know what you're asking, you dolt' _So going on a whim he hooked his hands under her arms again and rolled to his back lifting her in the air above him and Buffy broke down in a fit of laughter and clapped her hands "So you wanted to fly" he brought her down just to push her back up. He did this several times for her then sat up and she pushed on his chest again; he let out a laugh "Oh no, that's enough for the evening. I think it's time for bed" he glanced at the clock, it was little after 8pm "hmm for you anyways but first I think a bottle is in order"

"Ba ba ba" Buffy prattled as Giles stood and took her to the kitchen make her formula.

"A bottle, yes"

"Ba baaaaa" she watched as he warmed the bottle then looked up at his as he tested the temperature on his wrist "Ba ba?"

"Yes little imp its ready. Let's get you to bed" he said to her as headed upstairs.

After her diaper was changed and she had her bottle it didn't take long for Giles to get her to sleep; he put in bed after blocking the edge with some pillows then he took a fast shower and changed into his sleep clothes. Going downstairs he made himself a quick sandwich with some chips, did some research or at least tried to but the books he had we're just referencing other tomes so he would just have to wait till he could get his hands on the books in the library. Giles went around the room and picked up all the toys and blocks and then went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, all there were was his dishes from today, a few bottles and some baby spoons. Around 10:30pm he decided to call it a night and headed to bed carrying one last book with him just in case it held the key to fixing Buffy.

The night went extremely well with Buffy only waking up once for a bottle and changing. Giles was up around 6am so called the school letting them know that he had fallen ill and would be out until further notice. After changing into some old jeans and a dark blue sweater he went down stairs for some tea while he was waiting for it to brew the phone rang, it was Willow saying Buffy was officially excused from classes. He thanked her and wished a good day at school; hanging up just as the kettle started to whistle.

Giles sat in silence thinking about Buffy's situation, Joyce was due back in only a matter of days and they still had no leads to follow. How would he explain this? _Hello Mrs. Summers, have a nice trip? Oh by the way Buffy is 7 month old baby now. Good luck with that._ Bloody brilliant. He sunk back into the couch and let out a sigh, mentally kicking himself for not getting Buffy's account of what happened that night. Thinking back to his encounters that evening he couldn't piece anything together that seemed out of place besides the few vampires he had come across but that was a normal occurrence. He sat drinking his tea with heavy thoughts running through his mind.

The day passed quickly once Buffy woke up. She seemed to have become more comfortable with crawling and was moving all over the place and trying pull things from the lower bookshelves, or from under the couch and he even at point had given himself a heart attack when he couldn't find her only to hear voice coming from down the hall and found sitting in the middle of the tiled floor of the bathroom. Giles lost count of how many times he had pulled away and put back in the center of the living room and he now kept all the doors closed. After lunch he had to change Buffy's clothes as she tried, once again, to feed herself… and him. They were sitting on the floor playing with the blocks and 'talking' when Giles noticed her rubbing her eyes with her pudgy little fists "So the little explorer is feeling the effects of her travels." He said with a small smile as he lifted up and sat on the couch holding her so that they were chest to chest and her head was resting on his shoulder. Giles began to pat her bottom lightly and she grabbed a fistful of his sweater, he did this for some time before he looked to down and noticed her fighting sleep "Come now, no fighting it. You're tired." He stood and started to sway with her and continued to pat her only this time he started to hum as he did and in no time Buffy was out like a light.

Willow and Xander stopped by the Magic shop before heading to Giles' place to buy everything they would need. Walking down the street in silence Xander had his hands tucked so he was holding the straps of his backpack while Willow held a book open in front of her going over everything for 100th time.

"So you got this right? We aren't going to turn Buff into a rat or something?"

"Nothing can go wrong! I have been over everything about a bagillion times, there is no way this could go wrong. Are you getting cold feet?"

"You know I have always wondered where that saying comes from too… remind to ask Giles I'm sure h…"

"Xander!"

"What?" he looked to see her 'waiting' face "Oh. No, I told you I got your back" Willow smiled and they continued on their way down the street.

Giles open the door for them and held a finger to his lips letting them know Buffy was asleep upstairs. He started to give them the run down about Buffy learning to crawl last night with a huge, proud smile on his face that only a 'parental' unit would wear. Giles told them she would wake up wanting a bottle and reminded them to keep all the doors closed after opening them. Willow and Xander made their and sat on the couch eyeing each other nervously and shifting in their seats as they waited for Giles to leave. Willow shot Xander a look and mouthed "ask him" to the boy who shook his head no but at Willow's nod of her head and look on her face he cleared his throat "Hey Giles…"

Giles stopped on his way to the door "yes?"

"Would it be cool if Will and I took the Buffster to the park today? We kinda wanted to go to her place and try and fix the door anyways and it's right around the corner"

The librarian thought about it for a moment then said "I don't see why not as long as you are careful and are back before dark."

"Cool. Thanks Giles" the red head said with a smile

"Just be careful and…" Buffy chose that moment to let out a loud cry from upstairs announcing that she was awake. Since the teens didn't move fast enough Giles headed upstairs to retrieve her. He came down the stairs with pacified slayer in his arms; she was facing him and was gibbering on and moving her hands as she spoke. When he made it to the living room, he stood in front of the couch facing Willow and Xander.

"Alright she has just been changed so you won't have to deal with that for a bit though she is ready for her bottle now" at that Willow left to make Buffy her formula.

Xander held up a finger "Wait. We have diaper duty? I don't remember singing up for THAT"

"Well then let Willow handle it if you are uncomfortable" Giles said as he rolled his eyes.

"I just don't wanna be a peeper, checkin out her girly bits. Ya know? What if she remembers all this when she is back to the norm?"

Giles hadn't even considered Buffy retaining her memories after all this was over, he shifted from foot to foot and he felt his face warm. Willow came back with a warmed bottle for Buffy who started saying "ba ba ba ba ba" over and over again. The watcher shook himself from his thoughts as Buffy bounced happily in his arms while she reached out for her bottle.

"Easy there imp" he adjusted his grip on her so she wouldn't fall then looked at Willow "Well I should go the sooner we figure out what's going on, the sooner we can fix this" but when Willow went remove Buffy from his arms gripped his sweater and started to fuss.

"uh Giles? I don't think she wants me"

"Nonsense" Giles tried to help Willow get a hold of his little slayer who still had grip on his clothes and was not starting whimper. When Willow stopped try to hold her she stopped her fussing and her grip relaxed Giles took that as opportunity and went to hand her off to the red head but Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. Willow gave Giles a helpless look.

"Maybe we can bribe her!" Xander said "Hey lil Buff wanna go to the park?"

"I doubt she even know what a park is!" an exasperated Giles remarked, Xander shrugged "I was just tryin to help. Yeesh!"

"I think someone's gotten used to you Giles" Willow stated, still holding the bottle

"Well I have no choice. I must get those books…" he unwrapped her arms from his neck and handed her to Willow so quickly that Buffy hand no time to react until she realized Giles was walking away "I'll be back as soon as I can" he was almost to the door when Buffy let the saddest cry he had ever heard. Giles looked back and see Willow trying to calm a red faced Buffy who hands her arms out in front of her opening and closing her hands as she looked at him through teary eyes and it pulled at his heartstrings but he needed those books so he walked out the door closing it behind him.

Willow tried to calm the hysterical slayer by bouncing her and murmuring to her that Giles would be back soon. Xander cover his ears "I don't thinks that's working!" he called out over the cries and Willow gave him a death glare. It got to the point where Buffy wasn't breathing between cries; Willow tried to put the bottle in her mouth thinking maybe it would distract her enough to forget Giles had left. It had been all of 3 minutes before the front door opened to reveal Giles who immediately went to the crying baby and took her from the red head. He had made it all the way to his car before the guilt ate a hole in his heart and made him rush back to his slayer.

"OH thank Asgard!" Xander said when he seen Giles enter the house

"Sorry Giles I tried!" Willow face looked helpless as she apologized. Giles held Buffy to his chest and swayed trying to soothe her as he rubbed her back, she gulped for air as she cried her heart out.

"It's alright love I have you now. Shh it's alright" He said as he rested his cheek on top of head and listened as she tried to calm herself. Soon her cries quieted and all you could her was her hiccups and sniffles. Giles kept swaying; he reached into his pocket and pulled out a hanky then wiped her tears and nose "There? You see its fine. You're fine"

Buffy sniffled then looked up at him with a red nose and glossy eyes "ba ba?" Willow handed the bottle over to Giles and he titled Buffy to lie in his arms and he put the bottle in her mouth and immediately she began to greedily drink. Willow went to sit next to Xander on the couch and Giles moved to the armchair; settling in a comfortable position while Buffy ate.

"Sooo it looks like the Buffster has attached herself to you like the Ninja Turtles to their shells" Xander smirked at the face Giles made.

"I didn't think she would react the way she did. It's appears she may have grown used to me as her care taker…"

"BABY DUCK!" Willow shouted; startling Buffy which made her start to whimper. Giles threw her a glare as he rocked Buffy to calm her and Willow winced then continued "Buffy has baby ducked you Giles!"

Xander wore a mask of confusion "Okay I may not be the brightest crayon in the box… but what?"

"She imprinted him! Like a baby duck would have!"

"Yeah well _that_ just clears it all up thanks Will" Xander rolled his eyes

Giles cleared his throat "Imprinting was first described by animal behaviorist, Konrad Lorenz in 1937, in his work with ducks. Baby ducks rigidly attach to the first moving thing they see. In one case, he was the first thing the ducklings observed. They would follow him everywhere. He was their "mama". He found they would rigidly attach to a wide variety of objects and other animals. By "rigid" it was meant that once they made this attachment, it could not be undone."

"So in other words Buff is the baby ducky and you're her… mama?" the boy started to laugh then got serious all of sudden "Uh if she won't let you leave her side then when are you gonna get the books? I mean I guess we can if you write what we are lookin for down"

Giles looked down and noticed Buffy had dozed off "No I'll have to do it. Most of the tomes I need are kept under lock and key because they deal more with the dark arts"

"Well what about Wednesday? We have minimum day cause of parent/teacher conferences. We'll just come during Buffy's nap so you can leave without her knowing" Willow offered

"I don't have much choice at this point. I don't really want her in more distress and Wednesday is cutting close but what else can we do?"

A few hours later Xander and Willow were clearing the table from the dinner Giles had made. The watcher was currently sitting on the floor with Buffy watching her crawl around trying to grab a small red ball but every time she would go to grab it would roll from under hand causing her chase it once more.

"She's really moving ain't she?" Xander said as he sat on the floor and rolled the ball for Buffy

Giles gave a proud smile "Yes, her coordination is remarkable. It didn't take her long to crawling at all"

Buffy cooed and crawled towards Giles as he talked with Xander about her accomplishment. Willow watched as Buffy made her to Giles and climbed into his lamp and tried to push at his shoulders; the red head caught out her camera. The librarian tried to turn Buffy to sit in his lap she was squirming too much and continued to shove his shoulders.

"Yie! Yie!"

"I may not talk baby but I think she wants your attention" Xander pointed out

"Yie! Yie" she looked up at him with begging eyes "Yie!"

"Later Buffy" Giles again tried to make her sit but turned around again; getting to her knees and he grunted as she kneed his stomach. Her bottom lips popped out and her eyes got wide.

"Look at that face G-man give the girl what she wants!" Xander joked and Giles opened his mouth to respond but the teen beat him to it "I know, I know don't call ya G-man"

Buffy placed a hand on either side of Giles face; looking up at him "Yie" the older man looked at the two teen then at Buffy and let out a sigh "Oh, alight then" he put his hands under arms and pushed her up as he fell backwards to lay on his back. Buffy giggled and waved her arms wildly and Willow snapped a picture and laughed at the two of them. Giles brought her down again and Buffy cooed as she reached out and put her hand to his cheek, Willow took another picture then Giles pushed her above him again bringing out more laughter and claps.

"Awe, isn't that just the cutest?" Willow gushed

"And they say the brits don't know how to let loose" Xander wisecracked as he laughed at the sounds coming from Buffy. Finally Giles sat up wearing an enormous smile on his face; Buffy let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes then rested her head on Giles shoulder.

"Well if that's not a hint to hit the road I don't know what is" Xander stood up and stretched, Willow got her belongings to together then said "So we'll see you Wednesday… unless you need us tomorrow?" Giles stood "No, I don't think it will be necessary thank you though" Willow stood by the door and waited as Xander said goodnight.

"Goodnight lil duck" he headed out the door with Willow and just as it about to close he said "Goodnight to you too Mama!" Giles let out a groan and headed up stairs to get them ready for bed.

Xander walked Willow up to her porch "Well this is my stop be careful… call me when you get home!"

"yeah, yeah I will _mom"_

"And don't forget… Wednesday we do the _you know what"_ last half of her sentence was in a whisper

"Right. Wednesday. Operation: Fix Buffy. Night Will" and with that he headed home for the evening.


	5. Chapter 5

Early Wednesday morning Giles found himself lying in bed watching Buffy sleep; she was on her stomach with her knees under her making her bum stick up, he brushed the fine hairs off her forehead and she let out a soft sigh. He had trouble sleeping the night before; not because of Buffy, though she did wake up twice but because he couldn't keep the thoughts of not finding cure from running through his mind. What if it wasn't reversible? Would Joyce want to start from scratch and raise her daughter… again and if she did how could he begin to explain how it happened or how he, the schools librarian to her knowledge, came into having her daughter to begin with. Not only that how do you begin explaining that her is…was?... the slayer. _Well you're trip sounded wonderful .Oh did you know vampires are real and so are all other fictional monsters, you're daughter used to slay them and I was her watcher. I say used to because well now she is a baby, and can no longer slay let alone feed herself. Have a nice day._ Giles let out a groan and covered his head with his pillow. He heard Buffy shifting next to him and he held him breath hoping he hadn't woke her after a moment there was silence, he removed the pillow from his face and looked to his slayer; still asleep. She looked so small and innocent and in that moment he was determined to find a cure, forgetting all his worries he got out of bed and readied himself for the day. Before he went downstairs he stopped at the bed to glance at Buffy's sleeping form once more "I will fix this Buffy, I promise you" and with that he headed down for tea.

**Disclaimers and warnings in previous chapters**

When Buffy woke up she was all giggles "Well someone is in a good mood this morning" Giles commented as he changed her diaper, she had woken up pretty cranky yesterday. He turned to toss the diaper in the waste bin by his bed and when he turned back he found a naked Buffy crawling to the center of the unmade bed giggling as she went. "Oh no you don't imp." He leaned over and picked her and she squealed then wrapped her arms around neck, hugging him. Giles smiled as she cuddled against him and he gave her a soft squeeze and peck to the cheek, Buffy lifted her head from his shoulder put both her hands on his cheeks and brought lips to his face giving him a very wet and sloppy kiss saying "Mwah!" as she pulled back.

"Why thank you Ms. Summers my day has just been made" he let out a soft chuckle, ignoring the slobber on his cheek as he laid her down on the bed to put a diaper on her then decided to give her a bath since she was already nude. Soon she was freshly bathed and clothed; wearing grey leggings with yellow and pink hearts and a light yellow t-shirt with a pink glittery heart on the chest to match. They rest of the morning was spent playing and crawling around while Giles entertained her.

Noon rolled around and Giles took Buffy upstairs for her nap. He had just made it to the bottom step when Willow and Xander entered through the front door.

"Hello you two. How was school?"

"Ehh you know same as always… boring!" Xander answered as he dropped his backpack on the floor by the door

Willow rolled her eyes "Xander it's not bor… actually without you and Buffy there it is sorta snooze worthy"

"Speaking of snooze… is Buffy… in the land of Nod?" the boy asked

"Yes, I actually just laid her down so you have at least a half hour before she wakes"

Xander pretended to wipe sweat from his brow "Phew! Good because I don't think my ears could handle round against the lil banshee" he smirked

Willow rolled her eyes. The two teens shifted nervously as it got quiet, their eyes met a few times and Willow scuffed the toe of her shoe on the ground. Giles observed their actions and raised an eyebrow at them as he moved closer to them.

_Oh God! He knows! The jig is up!_ Xander thought frantically as Giles neared them. Willow shot a nervous glance towards Xander as she swallowed the hard lump in her throat. Giles came to stand in front of the two of them, looking at them and taking in their nervous ticks.

"Try not to worry about the tantrum Buffy will probly throw when she wakes. You'll do fine, the both of you."

Both Xander and Willow let out the breath they both had been holding but weren't aware of it.

"Just distract her the best you can… maybe the park is a good place to start and she is a dupe for 'flying'. I'll be back as soon as I can" and with that Giles grabbed his keys and left the house. As soon as the door was closed Willow let out a sigh of relief. Xander looked towards her "Okay so I wasn't the only who thought we were busted"

"Are you kidding me? I thought we were burnt toast!"

"Okay… so now what?" he asked looking around

"Now we wait till she wakes up then take her to her place and perform the… well you know"

"The spell. You can say it, it's just us" he let out a laugh and went to grab and apple from the fridge.

Buffy woke up 45 minutes later and after 10 minutes of Willow trying to calm her Xander offered to try, she looked skeptical but what choice did she have. He took the crying slayer from Willow and began to make flying noises as he made her fly above him then he started to move around the living room as he did making swooshing noises. That soon had Buffy laughing her head off.

Later they found themselves in front of the Summers residence carrying a laughing Buffy, she was laughing at the noises and goofy faces Xander had been making at her. They made their way inside through the broken backdoor. Willow put Buffy down on the floor in the family room and started to take things she would need out of her bag. Xander walked around the livingroom and noticed the light flashing on the answering machine he glanced at Willow then at Buffy, who was sitting on the floor gnawing her fingers, then back at the machine. Curiosity got the best of him and he pressed play. When Willow heard the beep she looked up "Xander!?"

"What? I couldn't help it!" he shrugged as he waited for the messages to play then the voice off Buffy's mom was heard

_'Hey sweetie, I know you're probly sleeping but I just wanted to let you know that I just landed. The reception isn't that great at the place where I am staying but I will call you later. I love you. Be safe. And NO parties, I mean it'_ BEEP.

_'Buffy? Are you there? Okay well you're probly with Willow and Xander. Cairo is beautiful but it's so hot and the bugs… don't get me started. They are finding some great things at the dig site. Well I will try and catch you later. Love you.' _BEEP.

_'Okay I am beginning think you're avoiding me young lady. *sigh* Okay well I was hoping to catch you, we have been warned that there are some pretty bad sand storms heading our way and might have to pause our excavation for a bit. Alright I love you. No boys in the house missy.' _BEEP.

'_I'm getting a little tired of talking to this machine Buffy Anne! *sigh* I was really hoping to talk to you this time, we found some amazing things for the gallery and we are sure to find more so I am extending my stay for another 2 weeks. I'm sending money for you. Well be safe; try not to leave the house too big of a mess for me when I get home. I love you sweetie'_ BEEP.

Xander looked to Willow "Well at least if this doesn't work we have another 2 weeks to find a way"

Willow frowned "We don't need to 2 weeks because we are gonna fix right now! Come on." She got up with all her things and headed upstairs. Xander looked at Buffy who was using the couch to help her stand, he walked over picked her up and tickled her sides as he followed Willows previous path. They found her in Buffys room sitting on the floor with everything she needed spread around her. Xander sat on the floor across from her with Buffy his lap "So you get the hair?" Willow didn't answer as she mentally ticked off her ingredients.

"Oh come on Will! You know that's not what I meant… I know you got this in the bag"

"Really?"

"Oh yeah really" Xander tickled Buffy's ribs and made her laugh "We believe in you Will"

Willow smiled at the two of them "Okay then… let's get this started. Uh you might not want her in your lap for this"

"Oh right. Not with the getting big and all" he moved Buffy to sit next to him and Willow and handed her block to play with. Willow started to light the candles and sage, the smell made Buffy sneeze. Xander watched as Willow crushed and ground something call a toad stone, he didn't even want to begin to think what part of the toad it was, then she added it to small dish in the center of them an drizzled something that looked like oregano in there as well. She uncorked something she called essence of the ages and poured it in the dish and it began to smoke. Buffy sneezed again then stuck the block in her mouth. Willow took one of the lit pink candles and dripped the wax into the bowl then took what looked like purple sand and drew a circle around the bowl when the ends of the circle met it glowed for a few seconds then faded.

"okay now the fun part" she some strands of hair from Buffy's brush placed in the bowl, took out a sheet of paper cleared her throat then began reading the incantation

"Mikä kerran oli, mutta ei ole enää

synnytät miten se oli ennen

Vaihda nuoriso

vuotiaiden viisaus jälleen

me ylistämme sinua Hekatena "

The bowl the center ignited with indigo flames and white sparks starting dancing around them.

"Is this supposed to be happening?" Xander asked in a rushed voice, Buffy started clapping as the little sparks started encircling her, more and more joined in to the point where they couldn't see her anymore but they heard her laughter.

Willow looked panicked "I… I don't… I don't know!" Xander watched as Willow's eyes widened he looked to towards Buffy the sparks started flying around her in a frenzy making a buzzing noise almost like white static, they could no longer hear Buffy.

"MAKE IT STOP!" he shouted over the noise he tried to reach into the mass of sparks only to be burned, he pulled his hand back with a hiss. The sparks started to glow brighter and brighter until they had no choice but to cover their eyes just before the mass around Buffy exploding in a flash of blinding light. Warmth engulfed them then the sound was gone, it was completely silent. Eerily silent. Willow cracked her eyes open and chanced a glanced but sunspots invaded her vision. She blinked a few times and she started to see Xander's form curled in fetal position; Willow called out to him and he didn't respond, come to think of it she didn't hear her own voice. She tried again. Nothing. The red head looked to where Buffy was sitting and gasped.

Xander started to stir, he peeked one eye open and seen spots. He closed it and then sat up rubbing his eyes with his fists; opening his eyes again he looked to Willow who had a look of shock on her face, she notice his movement and moved her line of sight towards him. He seen her mouth moving but there was no sound. Xander put his fingers in his ears and wiggled them around. There was now a ringing in his ears but now he could hear her muffled voice so he repeated the finger thing again.

"Okay what in the blue heck what that?!" he asked Willow who still had wide eyes looked towards him "Hello! Earth to Willow" all Willow did in response was point he followed her finger and his mouthed dropped open "Is that… I mean… what? No. Did we do... Awe man we are toast" all Willow did was nod.

Both Willow and Xander sat there staring at what they had done for what felt like forever but it only boiled down to 10 minutes when finally Willow broke the silence "I don't know what could have gone wrong I did everything the book said"

"Well not to be Captain Obvious or anything but… this didn't work. Now what?"

"I don't know"

"Okay no pressure but you HAVE to know you're knowledge girl and I don't know about you but I wanna keep on livin and this," he pointed to Buffy's sleeping form "is a sure bet that Giles will kill us both!"

"Well we could try it again but I would have…"

"Oh no, no more voodoo badness. If we leave now by the time he realizes we're gone we can be halfway to the border. We'll build a new life in Mexico!"

"Yeah not gonna happen besides we can't just leave her like this" she looked to Buffy; Xander had taken his outer shirt off to put it over her sleeping body.

"So what do we do?"

"Wait for our executioner" Willow said with slumped shoulders and Xander let out a groan and said "I still think Mexico is a good plan"

Two hours had passed; they sat downstairs in the family room on the couch waiting for Giles to arrive. They had called him to let him know that needed him to meet them at Buffy's, when he had asked them if Buffy was alright they told him she was taking a nap and they didn't want to wake her. When Xander hung up the phone Willows was looking at him "What?" he shrugged "I wasn't lying she IS sleeping"

"It doesn't matter anyways we're dead when he sees Buffy anyways" Willow slumped into the couch. Xander flopped on the couch next to her "Maybe he won't…" he trailed off at the look on Willow's face "You're right we're dead"

Giles showed up shortly after the phone call. He entered the family room and seen two very remorseful looking teenagers sitting on the couch. The first thing he did was scan the room for Buffy when he didn't see her he came to stand in front them and crossed his arms "What happened?"

Both teens gulped and looked at each other then averted their sight, Willow's to her hands in her lap and Xander's to clock on the wall. _4:27pm: Time of death, cause: yet to be determined_. Giles asked again and when he still received no answer he called out Xander by name, the boy looked up at the older man

"Well there is good news and bad news…"

"Where's Buffy?"

"Upstairs, sleeping. Honest"

"Then why do you two look like you've had hand caught in the cookie jar?"

Xander looked to Willow then back to Giles "Kay, so uhhh we may have found a reversal spell for the whole de-aging mess"

"Alright but finding a reversal spell isn't a horrible thing. It's not like the two you tried th…" one look at their guilty faces said it all "Oh." He removed his glasses to glare at them "Where is she?" when neither answered him he asked again with more force "Where. Is. She?"

"In her room"

When he went to leave the room Willow finally spoke her voice shakey "Giles, I didn.."

"I don't want to hear it" he snapped as he left the room leaving two distressed teenagers, they both knew this conversation was far from over.

Giles took the steps two at a time as headed upstairs and made to Buffy's room in no time, He pushed open the door and walked into the room; turning the light as he walked through the doorway. The watcher made his way to the bed and stopped at the foot of it as Buffy started to stir, her eyes fluttered open. Her eyes adjusted to the light and she sat up and looked at him and titled her head with curiosity, Giles sat at the edge of the bed slowly. He took in her appearance she was definitely older but she most obviously was not sixteen again, no, looking at him was a child about 3 years of age. She had golden blonde hair that hit just below her shoulders, sparkling blue eyes; she had lost most of her baby fat but still had rounds cheeks.

"Buffy…" he started softly as not to startle her "Do you know who I am?"

The little girl lowered her eyes and her bottom lip poked out as she slowly shook her head no as she sniffled. Giles scooted closer to her "Hey, hey it's alright if you don't know. I'll tell you okay?" Buffy looked up at him again then said in a small voice "Otay"

Giles smiled warmly at her "My name is Giles, Buffy"

"Hi mista Gi… Gi" she looked up for help wearing a mask of frustration, he let out a small chuckle at the face she made "Giles" he said it slowly so she could hear how to pronounce it, she tried saying until she was comfortable with it. Buffy tried crawling to him but it was proving difficult wearing Xanders button up shirt so she made a 'come her' motion with her little hand, Giles leaned in closer to hear what she was about to say and she leaned in as if she was about tell him a secret then said quietly "I gotsta to go potty"

Giles flushed and helped her off the bed, he went to walk forward when Buffy reached out and held his hand, he looked down at her and she smiled up at him. He led across the hall to the bathroom, stood in the doorway and turned on the light. "Can you… umm… _go_ by yourself?"

Buffy shook her head making her hair fly all over "I needs you to help"

"Oh dear Lord" _I know two teenagers that who will soon regret ever thinking about doing magic again._

Downstairs Willow and Xander were still seated on the couch, they hadn't said one word since Giles left to go upstairs, 15 minutes ago. They sat listening to the ticking of the clock, both teens nearly jumped out of their skins when they heard Giles clear his throat. They both snapped their heads to look at Giles; he was standing in the doorway wearing a stern face, eyebrows furrowed and his mouth in a thin line. Without taking his eyes off them he reached into his pocket and retrieved his wallet and pulled out his credit card "Take this, buy clothes and under garments for a 3 year old. She is about 3ft and 40-45lbs."

Xander jumped up from the couch and took the card not wanting to keep the man waiting and anything to prolong Giles talking to him. Willow pushed herself from the couch and made her way to the door pausing by Giles "Did… Is Buffy alright?" she kept her sight towards the ground.

If looks could kill Willow would cease to exist. "Now you think of Buffy's well-being?!" Giles snapped

Willow's eyes misted over, Xander decided at that moment to step over and grab her arm then pulled her to the front door. Giles heard the door click then turned to go towards the kitchen that's when he seen Buffy standing at the top of the stairs "Are dey in twouble?" she asked, looking down at him

Giles climbed the stairs and sat at the top step so that he eye level with Buffy "Now why would ask that hmm?"

"You had a mad mouf"

"mad mouf? Oh mouth."

She nodded her "Uh huh" she pointed to her mouth "you sayed mad words"

Giles smirked at her then said "Yes, I am very… uh mad at them"

"Why? Were dey bad?"

"No, _they_ are not bad, what they chose to do was bad" Giles decided to change the subject "Are you hungry?" Buffy shook her yes and smiled. "Alright let us go downstairs and get you something to eat then" the little slayer held her arms out towards him, he lifted her up and grunted not that she was heavy, he was just used to the baby she had been this morning.

When Willow and Xander returned they put all the bags in the family room then stood looking at each other neither one wanting to search Giles out to let them know they were back with the supplies. "We have handled demons from hell and faced an impending apocalypse a cranky watcher should be a piece of cake!" Xander tried to encourage Willow, she gave him a disbelieving look "What? I'm serious. Yeah, we did magic which is a big no no but she is still a girl heck! She is still human! I think you did good Will and I am gonna give him a piece of my mind"

They heard footsteps coming down the hall. "Hide me!" Xander yelped as he hid behind Willow

"A piece of your mind huh?"

At that moment Giles came around the corner holding a toddler sized Buffy on his hip. He put her down to stand in front of him while he dug through some of the bags they brought home; he didn't even glance in their direction. Buffy looked at them then wandered over to stand near them and stared at them with big eyes "Whats you guyses name?"

Willow knelt down "Im Willow and that's Xander" she pointed to Xander

The little girl smiled at them "I'm Buffy!" she pointed to herself then she leaned close to Willow and said in her ear "hims mad" and she point to Giles. Willow squirmed, she stood back up and glanced at Giles who had clothes in hands now.

"Come on Buffy" Giles said to the toddler "Let's get you dressed"

Buffy turned her head to look at her watcher and smiled "Otay" then followed him down the hall; leaving Willow and Xander alone again, they slumped their shoulders and headed to the couch to sit.

A half hour later Xander couldn't take the waiting any longer he just wanted to get the lecture over with, he pushed himself off the couch "That's it! No more waiting!" he turned and walked towards the backyard. Willow jumped up to follow him "Xander wait!"

"No way Jose I'm done waiting for the ball to drop!"

"I'm not. Waiting is good, I like waiting. Xander… please?"

He looked at her then the backdoor then back to her "Ughh fine. You win! I just wish he would get it over with already ya know? I hate this waiting shit!"

"Shit?" came a small voice from behind him, he seen Willows eyes widen slightly before he turned around to Giles squat to be eye level Buffy

"That is not a very nice word and I do not want to hear you saying it again, alright?"

"Why?"

"Because it is a bad word and because you won't like the outcome if I hear you repeat it again"

Buffy looked and pointed to Xander "But Xanner sayed it"

Giles glared at the boy "Yes well I _will_ be talking to him about his naughty behavior as well" Xander face flushed at the word naughty. "But we are talking about you here. No more saying that word. Okay?"

"Otay I won't" she paused for a moment "I gotsta go potty"

Giles decided to stay the night at Buffy's because he didn't have a booster seat to drive around safely with Buffy in the car. It was a little after 8pm and Buffy was dressed in her PJs. They were all sitting in the family room watching a Disney movie in awkward silence well besides Buffy's occasional questions and laughter. When Giles notice her fighting to keep her eyes open, he turned off the TV and stood from the couch with sleepy slayer in his arms then looked to the 2 teens "After I put her down we _are_ going to have a long discussion" and then went upstairs to put Buffy to bed.


	6. Chapter 6

**{{Disclaimers and warnings in previous chapters}}**

**A/N: Keep those comment coming haha i love seeing your input :) Took me a little longer to get this chapter up so thank you for bearing with me!**

When Giles returned he didn't waste any time getting down to business "What exactly were the two of you, who have no experience with magic of that caliber, trying to accomplish?" his voice was stern as he frowned at them as he stood in front of them while they sat on the couch. Willow bowed her head and Xander did the same. When he received no answer he said "I asked you a question and I expect an answer"

Xander raised his eyes to meet the older mans "We we're trying to fix her. I thought THAT much was obvious." He said with an air of arrogance. Willow's head snapped towards Xander looking at him as if he lost his mind then her eyes slid over to Giles who's face now looked thunderous.

"Do you have any idea how many things could have gone wrong?! I ought to throttle the both of you!" he was border line shouting

"I'm sorry Giles. I didn't think th…" Willow started in a shakey voice before Giles cut her off

"You're right you _didn't_ think, Willow. You had no idea what you were doing! If not performed correctly the spell could have backfired" Xander was about to comment on how it HAD backfired when Giles continued "Not just with Buffy but with the casters as well. The Gods don't take kindly to being summoned by inexperienced witches! You both had no idea what we were dealing with and to use magic if a subject is already a spell or curse could cause the magics to clash. Having them fight for dominance within their vessel! You could have very well just made this a permanent consequence!" his voice was unforgiving and stony "Or worse her body may not have been strong enough to hold both magics while they hashed it out, draining her life's core… she… she could have…" he couldn't bring himself to say it, he turned from them to gain his bearings; his eyes burning with unshed tears "I am greatly disappointed in the two of you and it will take some time before you are trusted again"

Xander and Willow looked mortified at the thought. The boy brushed his tears before they spilt from his eyes with the back of his hand and Willow let out a sob. Neither one had thought that the death of their best friend could have ever been a possibility. When Giles heard the cry he looked back to them, they both looked miserable. Xander was fighting tears and failing and Willow was crying into her hands, her shoulder shaking as she did. He moved to sit on the coffee table in front of them and gave his hanky to Xander who readily took it and started to wipe his face. Giles shifted to face Willow and was about to speak when she launched herself into his arms sobbing. He rubbed her back and let her cry for a moment before trying to calm her.

"I'm… I'm sor… sorry" she gasped out, still clinging to him. He moved to sit on the couch so that he was between both teens and let out a sigh. Giles continued to calm Willow by rubbing his hand up and down her back while Xander sat sniffling next to him. After sometime Giles spoke "The lot of you mean a great deal to me and if anything were to ever happen to you…" he trailed off to control his emotions, they already put their lives in danger on a daily basis as it was but to DILIBERATLY do it… he just couldn't fathom the thought of losing any of them due to their ignorance. Willow's hold tightened around his middle and he threw and arm over Xanders shoulders, drawing him closer "I don't want to ever hear of you doing unsupervised magic until I feel you are ready for it, am I clear?"

Xander rapidly shook his head "Crystal! We won't ever! Like EVER, ever again! I thought I had gone deaf!"

"I know it wigged me out big time" Willow added quietly

"I'll need to know the incantation you performed and as well as a detailed breakdown on everything thing that happened" Giles commented and both teens nodded.

"Giles? I'm firsty"

All three looked to the doorway to see little Buffy with a bad case of bed head standing there; Willow smiled at how cute she looked, Xander was hit with the thought she might have died cause of their stupidity

Xander sat up and looked at Giles "I really AM sorry"

Willow sat up as well "Yeah we are wayyyy sorry Giles"

"I'm glad to hear it" he stood and walked towards Buffy, taking her hand saying "Because if you ever try unsupervised magic again it's your backsides that will be sorry" as he walked out of the room, smiling and leaving a shocked Willow and Xander sitting on the couch.

Xander mouth dropped open and closed a few times "He. He wouldn't. Right? Naww…He's joking. Right?"

Willow looked a little shocked still as she shrugged "I don't plan on testing that theory. I like my backside the way it is" and all Xander did was nod in agreement.

Giles came back carrying a sleepy Buffy "I'm going to put her down then we'll go over what happened earlier today. The new volumes from the library are in the trunk of my car." He held up the car keys "Xander? If you would" the young man got up to retrieve the keys "No problemo Giles" and went out the front door.

As he was passing the bathroom Giles asked Buffy if she needed to go she had told him no so he continued across the hall to Buffy's room. He laid her in bed and pulled the covers up around her and said goodnight then turned to leave the room but Buffy grabbing his sleeve stopped him.

"Don't yeave" she looked up at him with big round eyes

Giles looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand, 9:12pm. Then sat on the edge of the bed next to her "It's late and you need to sleep"

Shaking her head she said "But I'm not tired" in an almost whine, which proved to Giles she was in fact tired.

"Yes you are. Now close your eyes"

"But I don't wanna"

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose, he already missed baby Buffy; at least then he could just rock her to sleep while she drank a bottle. He shifted to face her "What if I lay with you?" _until you fall asleep _he mentally added.

"Weally?" she looked skeptical

"Yes, really Buffy"

"Otay!" she scooted over to make room for him and patted the empty space next to her. Giles toed off his shoes and crawled into bed next to her so that his back was against the headboard "Alright close your eyes now"

Buffy shifted and turned next to him a few times "I'm firsty"

"You just have something to drink before I brought you up. Go to sleep please" Giles leaned over and turned the light out. There were a few moment of silence.

"you awake?"

Giles sighed "Buffy please go to bed and quit stalling"

"what's 'talling?"

"Stalling means wasting time so you have to go to bed"

"Oh." There was more silence then he heard shifting again and he felt her against his side "Night night Giles"

"Goodnight Buffy"

Giles sat in silence listening for her breathing to even out as he did he thought about what Willow and Xander had done behind his back and what REALLY could have gone wrong and shuttered. He knew he had made his point with them and as soon as he seen tears he had already forgiven them but still his trust was broken and it would take some time to make that up. Buffy, even Willow and Xander, could have died. He looked down to the sleeping form cuddled against him and sent a silent thank you to The Powers That Be. The watcher carefully started to scoot out off the bed but when Buffy shifted he stopped and decided to wait a few more minutes before trying again. It took another 10 minutes for him to actually make his way off the bed.

"Sorry that took…" he trailed off as he entered the living room when he seen both, Willow and Xander, had fallen asleep. Willow on the couch and Xander on the floor. Giles smirked and shook his head then walked over to Willow and removed her shoes then took the throw off the back off the couch and covered her with it; he did the same with Xander. He then took his leave and turned off the lights and made sure the door was locked before heading upstairs.

The next morning Giles was the first up at a little after 6am, he made his way downstairs to wake Willow and Xander as they still had school. He gently shook Willows shoulder while saying her name, she let out a yawn as she turned to face him; when her eyes focused she wore a confused look. She blinked a few times before sitting up, her hair going all directions "Guess we fell asleep before you made it back down last night, sorry"

"No, it's quite understandable it takes fairly a large amount of energy when casting"

Willow cast her eyes down to her lap "Are you still mad at us?"

He took a seat on the coffee table in front of her "At first I was livid that you would try something so dangerous on your own without the experience" he told her honestly "then it turned to fright when I thought about the possible outcomes had it gone _extremely _wrong, lives could have been lost" Giles put his hand under her chin and gently made her look at him "But to answer your question no, I am longer 'mad' at you. It happened and there is nothing to be done about it but finding a way of reversing it… the right way." he gave her a pointed look then continued "And make no mistake, I will follow through with my threat if you choose to continue with any reckless behavior of the sort." Willow blushed and nodded then stood up and stretched as she yawned again she then tried to smooth the wrinkles out her clothes with little success.

"Would you mind waking Xander? I'll go see if there is anything to make for breakfast"

After waking Xander up, which wasn't particularly easy, they took turns in the bathroom before finding Giles in the kitchen standing in front of the stove. Willow made her way to the stools at the counter and Xander stood to look over Giles shoulder "Mmmmm my favorite. Food."

Giles and had to admit the boy did love to eat so that statement was beyond the truth; he smiled then said "Go on and sit down. It will be ready in a moment"

"Aye Aye Captain" the boy said as he threw is hand up in a mock salute then sat next to Willow. Giles placed plates in front of them filled with pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon. Xander rubbed his hands together as he licked his lips then picked up fork and dug in. Willow said her thanks as Giles poured them some juice and he made a mental note to replace all the items he used before Joyce returned.

"Aren't you gonna eat something?" Willow asked before taking a sip of her juice

"I will eat when Buffy wakes, no need to worry about me" he gave her a soft smile and leaned against the counter while he check his watch for the time, 6:45am.

"Speaking of the lil Buffster… is she uhhh fixable?" Xander questioned as he scooped some eggs into his mouth. Willow shot him a look that could kill if she held the power and Xander shrugged "What?"

Giles frowned with his arm crossed in front of him then pushed away to stand straight "I haven't the faintest as to whether or not Buffy will be stuck in this state. I didn't even know if she was stuck as the baby that she was yesterday morning. We won't know till I get the particulars of what happened when you two decided to execute the spell," he let out a sigh, Willow pushed her eggs around on her plate and Xander swallowed the pancakes in his with mouth with a loud gulping noise "And even then we have no idea as to whether or not the first state she was in was permanent OR if this spell made her situation everlasting"

"You mean _we_ could have actually made this worse?" Xander asked and for the first time in history it looked as if he lost his appetite because he put down his fork and pushed his plate away. Giles let the frown fall from his face and leaned against the counter again "Honestly? Yes but let us focus on the figuring it out first alright?"

"But…"

"No. We focus on the goal of reversing this… if we can't then we will cross that bridge when we get there, until then I don't want to hear it"

Both Willow and Xander nodded but didn't continue to eat, the feeling of the lead ball in their stomachs from the guilt had made them lose their desire for food. Giles opened his mouth to speak when he heard a little voice calling his name, closed his mouth and headed towards the voice but before he left the room he told the two teens "No need to dwell on what might happen right now just finish your food then head to school" and with that he left the room.

When Giles walked into Buffy's room he found her sitting in the middle of the bed with watery eyes and messy hair, she looked up at him as a tear fell "You yeft me" she said in a watery voice

"No, I was here the whole time. I just went to wake Willow and Xander up for school, I wasn't gone long" he made his way to the bed and sat on the edge, he reached out for her and she scooted away.

"Nu-uh I wokeded up and you was gone n I waited" she crossed her arms as her bottom lip poked out "You didn't come back"

Giles decided not to correct her grammar but instead thought about what she said. _She woke up alone then laid here waiting for me to return. I'm an idiot._ "Buffy," he started softly "I'm sorry that you thought that I had left you, I would never do that"

She looked up at him with a skeptical face "Ever?"

"Ever." He nodded and held out his hand to her

"Pwomise?" Buffy's eyes were large and rounded when she asked him

"Yes, I promise. I won't leave you"

Buffy gave him a huge smile and untangled herself from the sheets before climbing into his lap and giving him a big hug that he returned after a moment. The little slayer looked up at him then said "I hasta potty" Giles let out a chuckle and carried her to the bathroom.

They were coming down the stairs just as Willow and Xander were gathering their backpacks from the living room. Buffy wiggled until Giles put on the ground then she ran to them and hugged Willows legs then hugged Xander's "Good mowning" she said with a big smile.

"Awe good morning" Willow replied

Xander scratched his head looked like he was thinking then looked down at the little girl wrapped around his legs "Whats your name again? Bunny? Yeah that's it Bunny." Buffy let out a string of giggles before looking up "Xanner I'm Buffy! Member?"

"Ohhhh yeahh silly me. Good morning Buff" he ruffled her hair as he gave her a goofy smile. Buffy pulled back and gave him a looked before she tried to smooth her hair down.

"What are you gonna do with Buffy?" Willow asked as she put her pack on her shoulders; Giles was watching Buffy throw Xander a scowl and didn't seem to hear her but Buffy did. She stopped patting her hair down long enough to look at Willow "Wif me?" this seem to get Giles attention.

The red head looked from Buffy to Giles "Yeah you know… cause you can't drive with her with her not having a booster seat or anything."

"I suppose I will just stay here till school lets out then the two of you can…" _I can't believe I am suggesting this_ "drive my car home with everything and I will just walk with Buffy"

Xander's ears perk at the thought of driving Giles car "Alright key me" he held his out his hand, waiting. Willow rolled her eyes then shook her head "Why do we just pick up a seat for her on the way home then you can drive it back"

Giles put his key back into his pocket and Xander's shoulder slumped "That's sounds reasonable. I'll go through the new books and see what I can find, Joyce is due back day after tomorrow which means we don't have much time left" he ran an exasperated hand through his hair.

"OH YEAH!" Xander all but shouted which made Buffy cover her ears "Uhh she won't be back for another two weeks. THAT'S the 'good' news I was talking about last night before… ya know" Buffy walked over to Giles and tugged on his sleeve; he looked down at her and she held up her arms "Hold me?"

Giles lifted her and settled her on his hip then looked at the other two persons in the room "How do you know this?"

"I pushed play" Xander mumbled

"What?"

"He listened to the voicemails" Willow told him and she nudged Xander's shoulder

"I couldn't help it! Besides it's good right?" he looked between Will and Giles "Right?"

"Yes, it seems the odds are in our favor at the moment." Giles shifted Buffy "It's getting late, you don't want to be late"

They said their goodbyes and left. Giles looked to Buffy who was still waving at the already closed door "Let's eat"

After a very sticky pancake with syrup breakfast they went into the bathroom where Giles washed her face and hands with a washcloth, he looked over and once he was satisfied with his inspection they went to get dressed for the day.

Buffy was sitting at the table next to Giles drawing with a pen on some note paper that he had given her while he sat reading with a frown on his face. She watched him for a moment then put her pen down on the page she had been scribbling on; Buffy rocked her feet back and forth then looked around. She looked through the doorway into the kitchen and the backdoor caught her, she wanted to go outside.

Giles took his glasses off and put the earpiece into his mouth as he leaned over the table to grab another volume, he flipped through the pages while other book was still open on the table in front of him. The text he was reading was referencing a demon named Igavik that had the ability to reverse your lifes clock for a second chance at life but for a price though there hadn't been any entries on him in over a century. Giles made some notes, the demons name was Estonian and it roughly translated to mean 'eternity' but he highly doubted that even if Buffy had come across Igavlik that she would want to relive her youth. At the thought of Buffy he looked up to check on her but all he found was and empty chair and an abandoned pen; he scanned the room, no Buffy. He put his glasses back on and called out for her but when he didn't hear her or get a response he stood and walked to the living room, nothing. Giles called her name again as started up the steps to second level of the house and he was again met with silence, he quickened his pace and checked all the upstairs rooms, bathrooms and closets.

"Alright Buffy this isn't funny. Where are you?" he called out then went into Buffy's room and checked under the bed, the girl had more shoes then a shoe store could supply, he pushed himself to his knees and thought for a moment '_alright, she is three it isn't like she would sneak out a window to get out… OUTSIDE'_ he all but smacked his head at his conclusion. Giles stood up and rushed to the front door, it was locked. The watcher turned on his heels and headed to the kitchen; when he got to where he was going he noticed the backdoor left wide open, he stepped onto the back porch and scanned the yard then called out her name for what felt like the 100th time.

When he again received no reply he began to panic, he stepped off the porch and power walked to the side gate that lead to the front of the house. When he turned around the corner he found Buffy squatting near a bed of flowers oblivious to everything around her, Giles let himself relax, relieved to have found her then displeasure kicked in. He strode over to her and bent at his middle as he turned by the shoulders then said in a firm voice "Just what do you think you are doing?"

Buffy looked up at him with widened eyes then looked at her closed fist, she held it up and opened it revealing what she held "Playing wif the buggies" in her hand she held 2 pill bugs

Giles removed the insects and placed them in the planter and Buffy let out a whine for her bugs; turning back to Buffy "None of that now. They belong outside not inside, which is where you are going"

"But I don't wanna" she said with a stomp of her foot "I wanna play with the roly polys!"

"Sorry Buffy but that's not going to happen. Now stop this nonsense, come along" Giles turned around to walk back to the house but stopped when her heard Buffy's defiant voice.

"No." she was wearing a mask of rebellion and had her arms crossed in front of her with her chin up.

Giles turned back around to face his little slayer; he stood for a moment thinking about his next course of action. With 7 month old Buffy all he had to was rock her and pat her bottom to calm her down, with 16 year old Buffy he told her drop the attitude or he would treat her like the petulant child she was acting as which seem to always do the trick but he had yet have to deal with a three year old slayer refusing to listen. Giles took a deep breath and walked to stand in front of Buffy bending to be eye level with her "Yes. We are going in the house," he checked his watch "then we are going to have us a little chat afterwards I am going to make some lunch then…"

"No!" she stomped her foot again and glared at him

Giles raised his eyebrows at the action "Buffy it's best to stop acting like this while you are ahead" he went to hold her hand and she batted his larger one away and back up a step "I don't wanna"

"I am going to ask you one more time to come inside and if you do not listen you will not like consequences. Now, please come in the house"

With her hands still crossed she shook her no and said "I wanna play wif the lil buggies!"

He thought 16 year old Buffy was persistent but 3 year old Buffy could definitely give her a run for her money. Having heard enough of her insolence he swooped her up and started for the house. As soon as her feet left the ground Buffy had a meltdown started squirming and kicking her feet while thrashing her arms about nearly knocking Giles glasses from his face. He said nothing as he made his way in to the house not bothering with the backdoor since it was broken, once in the dining room he took one of the chairs from the table and placed it in the one of the corners of the room. Giles set a fit throwing Buffy on her feet "This stops now. You do not leave the house without an adult and you surely do not throw fits when you do not get what you want" he took hold of her chin to make eye contact "I warned you that you would not like the outcome of not listening to me so for that you will placed in time out, 3 minutes."

He picked her up and placed her in chair facing the corner "Do not get up until I say you can or your time will restart"

Buffy immediately pushed herself off the chair; Giles, without saying word, picked her up and sat her back down. They did this for about a minute before Giles' nerves were starting to wear thin he again took her chin "If you do not want me to smack your bum then you will not get up from this chair again" with that he placed her on the chair and walked to the table to finish his reading. He sat there watching her rather than reading, he was hoping not to have to follow through on his earlier threat he didn't think he had the heart to do so. Buffy sat in the chair sniffling as her lip poked out and her eyes glossed over but she didn't get up again. Finally after what seemed like an hour to Giles heart her three minutes were over. He got up and kneeled beside her chair and brushed her hair from her face "Your timeout is over little one"

Buffy swung her legs to the side of the chair to face Giles "I get up now?" she looked unsure

He nodded his head yes but stopped her movement for a moment "Can you tell why you were in timeout?"

This time Buffy nodded her head and her bottom lip again poked out, she dropped her head and mumbled something he couldn't quite make out. Giles leaned closer to hear her "I didn't quite catch that"

"Cause I was bad" a tear slipped from her eyes and rolled down her cheek, immediately Giles lifted her up and sat where she had a few moments before placing her on his lap. He wiped her tear with a his thumb then ran a hand through her hair,

"Shh no, you are not bad" he coaxed in gentle voice, when Buffy went to protest he placed a finger to his lips she closed her mouth and looked up at him with wide eyes "The way you acted was not nice, but you Buffy are not bad"

Buffy nodded her head and wiped her eyes then went to get off his lap and Giles could help but smile at how she still had her 'over and done with' mind set when it came to her reprimands , he let her stand on the ground but moved her stand between his knees "Not so fast imp"

He waited till he had her full attention to continue talking "If you want to go outside you tell an adult, you do not go out by yourself again and you not disobey me when told do something" …_who are you kidding she didn't listen when she was 16 what makes you think she will at 3? _

She made a confused face "what's dis'bay?"

"It's when you don't listen to an adult and the rules they give you"

Her mouth made an "O" shape at that time she had a thoughtful look then she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his middle so her head lay on his chest "I'm sowwy I dis'bayed you Giles"

Giles returned the hug while saying "It's alright so long as we don't have a repeat of this afternoon or you will find yourself back in that corner"

"I won't" she promised not "never ever!"

He let out a chuckle "We will see about that won't we?"

The rest of the afternoon went without incident, well besides her not liking the 'yucky' crust on her grilled cheese. He had convinced Buffy to lay down for a nap by telling her by the time she awoke Xander and Willow would be home. Of course he had lain with her, as promised, until her breathing evened out then he went downstairs.

Giles spent the next 45 minutes trying to further his research on the Igavik demon but seeing as there where little or no entries on him for the last century he was finding it unrewarding. He heard the front door open and Xander walked in holding a large box.

"I come bearing gifts" he said with a goofy smile as he put the box down and closed the door behind him

The watcher looked up from his tome and noticed Xander was alone "Where's Willow?"

"Well we stopped by her place on the way cause she wanted to shower/change, you know how girls can be" he made a face then continued "Anywho when we got there her mom had come home early from work and BOY did she have A LOT to say bout her not coming home last night!"

Giles let out a sigh "So she was reprimanded."

"Our poor Will is doing time, a week of solitary confinement."

At Giles face Xander elaborated "She got grounded."

"And you?"

"Me? I didn't even go home, not that they would have noticed I was gone anyways"

When Giles went respond to the boys statement Xander began to talk again "So I went flashy with the seat. See?" he hefted the box and placed it on the table. Giles looked at the picture; it was of bright pink car seat with colored flowers all over it "Pink?"

Xander gave him a ridiculous smile and shrugged his shoulders "Well you know how Buff loves the trends. I figured lil Buff would be the same and cuz she's a girl… so pink. So what are you working on?"

Giles filled Xander in on what he found so far which wasn't much. Then he and Xander fixed the backdoor so that it could be closed and locked again. Buffy had woken up and was now playing in the backyard with Xander while Giles loaded up his car with the books and Buffy's new clothes and supplies.

"Wheee!" Buffy squealed as Xander spun while holding her hands so that her feet left the ground. He came to a slow stop and out her on the ground then he mock collapsed to the ground when she jumped up and down saying 'again again'

"Let's take a break huh Buff?" he laid there winded "You're a lot a work ya know"

Buffy just giggled and sat next to him looking up at the trees then down at Xander who was laying on his back "you wanna see my fwiends?"

"Friends?" he lifted his head to look at her

She shook her head "Uh huh my lil buggies"

Xander sat up "Bugs? I like bugs" he stood up and held his out to Buffy to help her stand "Lead the way lil lady"

Giles found them on the side of the house sitting next to the flower bed chatting to each other and laughing every so often. It's was going on 4:30pm and the air was starting to chill. "Alright you two let's get going. It's getting late"

Buffy opened her mouth to protest then changed her mind "Can I bwing my fwiends?"

Giles knew telling her no would bring on another tantrum but what did he have? Thankfully Xander beat him to answering.

"Awe no Buff you don't wanna do that. They would be sad to leave their families"

"Why?"

"Well because," Xander thought for a moment "Wouldn't you be sad if someone took you from Giles?"

Buffy eyes got wide and she shook her head yes "That would be mean"

"See? The bugs don't wanna leave their families either. Get it?"

"Uh huh! Bye bye buggies" then she put her 'friends' back in the flowers and ran to Giles, who picked her up and mouthed a thank you to Xander. They did quick check around the house to make sure nothing was left behind then headed out to the car. Giles was leaning into the backseat buckling Buffy in her new seat. After making sure everything was clasped right and tight enough he closed her door and climbed in and started the engine.

"Giles?" Buffy called from the backseat. He looked at her from the rearview mirror "Yes?"

She squirmed in her chair "I hasta potty… weally bad"

Xander choked back a laugh as he watched the watched jump from the car and undo Buffy and run into the house as he carried the little slayer all the way.


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning and Disclaimers in earlier chapters :)**

**A/N: Sorry it took me a little longer to get this chapter up but thank you to everyone who has put input and followed this story, it really means a lot to me. Here is a lil something for you guys and i am hoping to make ch8 a longer chapter :) Keep the comments coming! i love reading them!**

Buffy and Xander sat side by side on their piles of blankets and pillows watching some cartoon on TV while Giles sat on the couch flipping through one of his many texts. He had started to find more and more entries of de-aging but none that made sense when it came to Buffy's predicament. Giles felt himself becoming agitated with all dead ends he was running into, he found entries on youth spells but most you were to perform on yourself.

Giles removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, letting out a sigh he leaned his head back against the couch listening to sound of the TV with his eyes closed. Soon the sounds lulled him to sleep. Xander turned to ask Giles a question but stopped when he seen the older man asleep so her turned his attention back to the cartoon.

Buffy started to get restless and Xander noticed it right off the way she was squirming about. He watched her out the corner of his eye for a bit and she seemed to inch her way little by little closer to Giles. Xander turned to look at her and said "You got ants in your pants there Buff?" he gave her a smirk

"Nuh-uh I yeft the buggies in the flowers. Member?"

"Then why you scootin like you are?" Then an idea popped into Xanders head and held up a finger "Hey! You don't hafta… you know... _go_ do ya? Cause I didn't do diapers, soooo potty training is deff out"

Buffy looked to Giles who still sleeping then back at Xander and shook her head no.

"Are you sure?" Xander asked. Buffy nodded her head then looked back up at her sleeping watcher and sighed.

"He's just tired Buff, He'll be up soon. Then we can eat!" Xander rubbed his belly then asked "Anything ya wanna do?"

Buffy looked like she was thinking then said "I wanna play outside" she threw Xander a wide smile

"Uhhh no can do Buffster the sun went down which means G-man would have me skinned if I took you out this late"

"Why?"

"Cuz you know…" _Vampires, Demons you know the usual hell mouthy big bads _but she didn't know did she at least not yet… or did she forget? He would have to ask Giles Xander thought then continued "Things go bump in the night so how about we play something?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why things go bump? Like bugs?"

"Yeah, bugs. Only BIG bugs that with big teeth and claws so we stay in the house when it's dark cause that's when they come out. Okay?" he said figuring the subject would be dropped and never brought up again.

Buffy slowly shook her head as her eyes widen then she softly said "Otay" she continued to sit on the floor not saying anything after that. Xander started to feel uneasy with her being too quiet thinking maybe he had said the wrong thing about going outside so he asked "Do wanna color? We could make pictures for when Giles wakes up"

Her eyes lit up and she got to her feet and tried to pull Xander to his feet "yeah yeah yeah! Let's color!"

It was about 10minutes later that Buffy was squirming her chair with a pinched face as she dropped her yellow crayon to the table. Xander looked up at the sound and noticed her little 'dance' his eyes widen as realization hit him "Uhm Buff? You're doing a catchy dance there…"

"I hafta potty I can't wait no mores" she responded in a desperate voice

"Can't you hold it just a little longer?" Xander freaked at the thought of having to help her use the bathroom. Buffy shook her head no as she got down from her chair and started shifting from foot to foot

"No Xander she can't, she's three" came a rough with sleep sounding voice. Giles wasted no time in rushing to Buffy and getting her in the bathroom. He set down in front of the toilet and knelt to help undo her pants when she let out a sob; Giles looked up to face to see her crying as she brought hands up to hide her face he looked back down and found the reason. They hadn't been quick enough. Buffy was completely hysterical at this point her face still behind her hands.

Giles brought her hands down and very gently said "Hey now little one it's alright. It was just an accident, they happen all the time" He lifted her to sit on the closed toilet seat and removed her wet shoes and socks, never in a million years would he have thought that he would be doing this for his slayer one day. Buffy was hiccupping and sniffling, her face red from crying when she cried out "I I I'm s… so… sowwy"

The watcher reached and grabbed a washcloth from the sink and started to wipe her tears away and he said soothing words "Listen love it was an accident, you aren't in any trouble alright? We tried but we weren't fast enough but it's all part of the learning experience," he undid her pants and made her stand, avoiding the puddle on the floor then took off her pants "We just know no not to wait so long before telling someone okay?" Buffy nodded he head as she let out a shaky sigh. Giles continued to undress her then brought her stand near the tub. He started to run the water, making sure it was the right temperature then placed her in the tub and placed the stopper in. While she was sitting in the tub he cleaned up any evidence of her mishap, then took her wet clothes and shoes and put them together on the counter near the sink. He came to kneel in front of the tub and brushed the hair from her face; she looked up at him with puffy, red eyes and gave him a small smile. Giles called for Xander and told him where he kept her shampoo and such. When the teen returned he had the shampoo and body wash in one arm and his hand over his eyes with the other.

"Here you are G-man" He said from the doorway, eyes still covered. Giles became fed up with Xander at that point and a frown took over his features "She is 3 not 16! There isn't much she can do by herself anymore and the sooner you realize it the easier it will be all around" he growled out. At the tone in Giles voice Xander dropped the hand covering his face and looked at the older man, he was still frowning at him.

"Now you said you wanted to help me, so help! That includes bathroom responsibility when I am unavailable. If you can't handle that then go home!" Giles held his hand out hand for the soaps and Xander rushed to give them over, once in his hand he turned to Buffy who was watching them with curious eyes. Xander left the room and soon Giles heard the front door close and he let out a large sigh; he hadn't thought the boy would actually leave. Shaking himself of his thoughts he started to lather some body wash on the washcloth and proceeded to wash Buffy. She giggled and squirmed when he scrubbed her toes and he couldn't help but laugh along with her.

"That tickles!" she giggled out, water splashing all over as she tried to pull her tiny foot back sending a wave of water over the tub and onto Giles.

"Hey! You're the one in need of bath not me, imp" He put foot back into the water and used her shoulder to turn her back was to him "Tilt your head back so we can do your hair" Buffy complied and stuck chin in the air as far as she could "Yike this?"

Giles let out a chuckle "Yes that's perfect" he wet her hair then began to work a lather into its golden locks and rinsed it while shielding her eyes and Buffy scrunched them tight to keep the soap out. He let her splash about for a few more minutes before lifting her from the tub and wrapping her in a fluffy towel. He led her out the bathroom and to the stairs where he lifted her up and carried the rest of the way then sat her on the bed while he gathered her night clothes. Buffy sat watching him work his way around the room when her turned to her and asked "Purple or Pink?" while hold up two sets of PJs.

Buffy put her finger to her chin as if thinking, her wet hair framing her face and a huge towel wrapped around her when she looked back at him "Watchu yike?"

"Me?" His eyebrows rose in surprise, did his opinion really matter to her? Buffy only shook her head quickly making the towel slip to her shoulder "Uh huh! You!" she said while pointing to him with a smile.

Giles looked down at the sleepwear in his hands then to Buffy "Well I think both are quite nice"

"Which one is more prettier?"

"More prettier?" Giles felt silly even saying the words, he came to sit on the bed "let's see…" He held up the pink pajamas "These are fine and would suit the purpose they are needed for"

"And these?" Buffy tapped the purple clothing in other hand

"Oh yes these are also a fine pair of sleepers for you"

Buffy thought for a moment then asked "What's you favwite color?"

"Green" he answered without hesitation

"Gween?" at his nod Buffy seemed to look dejected and Giles noticed right away

"BUT," Buffy looked up at him with her head tilted to the side "I also happen to love… the color pink"

Buffy eyes brightened at the thought and she smiled "Weally?"

"Oh... uh… most definitely"

"Otay!" she unwrapped herself from her towel and limbed into his lap and tapped the pink pajamas "Dese ones!" she turned her head to look at her watcher who tapped her nose and said "These ones, what?"

"Umm" when she couldn't figure out the puzzle on her one she looked back to Giles and shrugged her shoulders. Giles smiled and gave her the answer "Please. It's the magic word you know"

"Magic?" she repeated in awe

"Oh yes, it will work wonders if used correctly. So give it a try" he looked at her with a smile and as she turned to face him better and she place her hand flat on his chest and patted.

"Dese ones… peas?" she hoped she had used it right for the magic to work

"The pink one it is little one. Now let's get you dressed you little jay bird" Giles lifted her to stand on the bed and started to dress her.

Giles and Buffy where just sitting down on the couch to brush her hair out when the watcher heard the front door being opened. He made Buffy sit on the floor and put a finger to his lips telling her to be quiet and stay put; he then made his way to his weapons chest. Giles quietly made his way the door and cocked his crossbow for action, aiming it at the door. Slowly the door opened and Giles' finger twitched towards the trigger, he did a quick look to make sure Buffy was where she was supposed to be but found her standing right next to him; he was about to scold her when the door fully opened. The watcher stood in front of Buffy and was about to shoot

"HEY! Whoa whoa whoa there G-man!" Xander cried out, he had paper bags in his arms but his eyes widen and his voice was pitch higher as jolted back in shock of seeing the weapon pointed towards him.

Giles quickly lowered the bow and Buffy ran and wrapped her arm around Xander's legs "You came back!" she called out excitedly and Xander gave her a wide smile "Course I did Buff. No man can resist stayin' away from you"

"Buffy, come her please" the librarian placed the bow on the table and sat down on one of the chairs. Buffy knew his tone wasn't angry but it wasn't happy either, she slowly made her way to the watcher looking at her feet the whole way. When she reached Giles she put a hand on each of his knees and looked up at his face. Xander decided to put down his bags and then head to the bathroom.

"Why did you move after I told you stay?" Giles asked the little girl standing between his knees. Buffy drew little circles with her finger on his knee then shrugged her shoulders.

"Shrugging is not a proper answer little one. Try again" he gave her gentle smile of encouragement

"Cause I wanted to be wiff you" she said quietly

"I can understand that Buffy but when I tell you do something you need to listen me"

"But…" he put a finger to her lips to quiet her. Xander quietly walked into the room and started to unpack whatever it was he had brought, trying to avoid eavesdropping on the watcher/slayer talk.

"No, no buts. When I tell you to do something, you listen"

Buffy lowered her head and mumbled something that Giles couldn't quite make out so he asked her to repeat herself; she let out a dramatic sigh and said "But it was only Xanner"

Giles thought about what to say next. In their line of 'work' it was too dangerous to have her not heeding his word especially when he didn't know what had done this to her or if whoever had done this was after her because of it. "What if it hadn't been Xander? What if it had been...?"

"A monster?" Buffy finished

Giles brows furrowed slightly at her wording "I was going to go with stranger… what do you know about monsters?"

"Thems scary" she said matter of factly with a nod of her head for good measure. Xanders ears perk at the word monster as well so he sat table and watched the exchange.

"Is that all they are?" Giles probed gently

"OH! And mean and ugly and smelly" she paused "Right?"

"Buffy," Giles brought Buffy closer to him "Have you even seen a… a monster?"

The little slayer looked at him like he was crazy and shook her head no "Monsters not weal, silly Giles" she gave him a pat on his cheek and Xander swallowed the laugh that was threating to fall from his lips.

_Excellent show, make the poor girl think you're crazy… _"Right of course they aren't" his eyes shifted to where Xander was seated and he scowled at the boy who was failing to hide his shoulders that were shaking with unheard laughter.

_"_Back to what I was saying, When I tell you to do or not do something you listen…"

"But.."

"Disobey me again young lady and there will only be one _butt_ that pays the price, am I clear?" his tone was firm and his face stern as he looked at her, Buffy leaned forward and hugged him "I won't dis'bay you" Giles softly returned the hug.

"Not to interrupt this Kodak moment but I brought dinner annnnnddd itsa gettin cold" Xander motioned to the food he had placed out while they had their chat.

"YUMMY!" Buffy whooped as she climbed onto Giles lap

"Finally! A girl who gets it!" the teen said as he passed out the food with a smirk.

Later that night after Giles had put Buffy to bed the watcher found Xander and himself sitting in complete silence, the only sound to be heard was the ticking of the clock and the turning of pages as they researched. After a moments time Giles decided to break the silence " Xander…"

The young man looked up from his book "Yeah?"

"About earlier…"

"No, I get it I was being dumb"

"I didn't mean for you to actually leave, I… I just…"

"It's cool Giles. I get it" Xander shrugged off what was being said

Giles sat forward in his chair with his elbows resting on his knees "No, I don't think that you do" his voice was firm but not mean "I never meant for you to think I was kicking you out. I would never do that; you will ALWAYS have a place here Xander" he knew that the boy's home life was enough to make the Ripper side of him want to make an appearance and beat some sense into his parents, if you could call them that. They sat in silence again while Xander fiddled with his fingers and Giles watched on as he did.

"Thanks"

The watcher wouldn't have known the boy spoke if it weren't for seeing his lips move. He looked at the boy who was still looking at was hands. Xander looked up at Giles "I know you didn't mean it but I left anyways cause seeing her like this gives me major wiggins," he paused "I mean what if…" Xander trailed off knowing Giles would hear his unspoken words.

Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge if his nose then replaced them "We just have to keep searching for something, ANYTHING that will point us in the right direction. It was brave of you to come back, you know"

Xander smirked at Giles and shrugged "I figured you two would be hungry. It's the least I could do plus! Toy surprise" he held up the toy that came with Buffy's happy meal, Giles shook his head as he smiled then checked the time.

"It's late… I would drive you home but…"

"You have mini slayer duty" Xander finished. He stood up and put his book the desk then starting putting on his jacket "I'll catch ya guys tomorrow" he called out as he headed to the door

"Xander, do call when you get home. It's late and the sun has set" he walked to his weapons chest and pulled out a stake and a vile of holy water then handed them to Xander

"Call when I get home. Check." Xander gave Giles a thumbs up and walked out the door.

The phone rang about 20 minutes later letting Giles know that Xander was home safe for the evening. Giles threw Buffy's clothes into the wash then packed away all the crayons and miscellaneous toys from the day. He then went upstairs to change into his night clothes. When he entered the room Buffy was sleeping in the middle of the bed with blankets bunched at her feet. Giles pulled the blanket up to shoulders and smoothed down her hair. After she was all tucked in again he proceeded to head to the bathroom to brush his teeth and change.

He sat reading through another lengthy tome about de-aging spells and curses but they all seemed to lead to dead ends, there were a few that needed a full moon to perform them correctly and since they had executed it before sunset he ruled those out. Giles started looking through some of the watchers journals and kept coming across some entries that talked about a prophecy involving a slayer in her youth and hell rising because of it. He decided to search out the codex that contained the actual prophecy and hopefully end this all. The watcher made several phone calls and cashed in on some favors that were owed to him from over the years, finding the Codex wouldn't be easy but with some of the _people_ he used to know it would at least narrow done the possible worldwide search. Knowing there was nothing further he could do he decided to call it a night and headed to bed. Giles laid on his back staring at the ceiling hoping that at least one of his connections would find the Codex or at least something useful. He heard Buffy shifting in her sleep then felt snuggle against his side and let out a sigh as she settled against his ribs. Not wanting to wake Giles let her be he closed his eyes and soon was taken over by sleep with a little slayer nuzzled to his side.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimers in earlier chapters :)**

**(A/N: Hey everyone sorry I haven't updated in awhile life has just been hectic! Also thank you for all the reviews i love hearing from you all! Keep em coming! I promise not to take so long for the next chapter haha)**

[Chapter 8]

A few days had passed and Giles had yet to hear from any of his connections about the Codex or it whereabouts but he told himself that no news was good news. After breakfast Giles had received a call from Xander letting him know that Willow been let off her restriction early and that she wanted to meet up to go over the spell they had tried to cast. Xander had tried to explain what had happened from his own account but because Willow had done most of the leg work all Giles was getting from the boy was 'she burned these sticks that made us sneeze and then chanted in some funky language' which in Giles opinion was no help what so ever. They had decided to meet at the park around noon that way Buffy could play while Giles spoke to Willow.

Giles pulled the car into a parking space and got out closing the door behind him, he then went to Buffys side of the car and bent to start unbuckling her then he was struck with a thought which cause him to pause his motions. He leveled his little slayer with a look "Alright little imp we made it to the park" he undid her safety belt and removed her from the car holding her to his hip. Giles went the trunk of the car and removed large bag and swung it over his other shoulder and closed the back of his car. The watcher and slayer made their way to a group of trees by the edge of the playground; once they were under the shade Giles set Buffy down and told her to stay near him when he seen her eyeing the slide. Giles laid out a fairly large blanket then crouched down in front of Buffy and held both her hands to pull her attention from the playground. When she look back to him he started to speak "Alright Buffy there are some rules I want to go over with you before Xander and Willow get here okay?" he waited for her acknowledge , when she did he tug her hand a bit "Buffy"

Buffy tore her gaze from the few kids that were playing on the swings to look at her watcher "We pay?" she asked in a hopeful voice.

Giles smiled at her and nodded "Yes, there will time for playing… after our talk." He noticed her shoulders slumped a little and he chuckled "Hey now it won't take that long" she gave him her full attention. When he seen she was paying attention he started again "Alright then I just want to go over the rules with you okay?"

"Otay"

"I want you to always stay where I can see you. No wandering off, you are to be with an adult always okay?" at Buffy's nod he continued "If you have to uhhh use the bathroom…"

Buffy face scrunched "You mean da potty?"

"Yes the erm potty. If you do you let someone know. Don't try and hold it like the other night"

"Otay I won't." Buffy promised then waited a tick then asked "We pay now?"

Giles stood up and held out his hand towards her to take "Yes now we may play"

Buffy let out a whoop of happiness and she reached for his hand and bounced along as they made their way to the swings. Giles lifted her up and placed her in the seat of the swing then moved to stand behind her and began to push her, not hard but enough strength to make Buffy think she was flying high. Buffy was squealing and giggling and yelling out for him to push her higher and he did.

"I'm FLYING!" she called out with joy as the wind whipped her ponytails back and forth, Giles smiled at her innocence and continued to push her. They did this for about 5 minutes before he looked and seen Willow and Xander walking towards them, Xander with a travel cooler in his arms. The watcher waited till the Buffy's swing slowed down then lifter her from the seat, once her feet hit the ground she took off towards the two teens. Buffy wrapped her arms around Xander's knees then skipped to Willow and did the same. The red head picked Buffy up and tickled her ribs causing buffy to tilt her head back in laughter. When the finally reached Giles, who had moved to blanket he had laid out, Buffy was begging Willow to stop between breaths and Xander dramatically put down his cooler and wiped his brow.

"Phew!" Xander looked to Willow and Buffy "How come you get to have all the fun and I have to do all the heavy lifting?"

Will passed Buff over to Giles "Uhh that's because YOU insisted on bringing lunch" she smirked at him knowing there was nothing he could say to that

"Yeah… well…" He looked to Giles for help who just shrugged a shoulder at him and settled Buffy on his hip as he sat on the floor "Okay fine! But can you blame me for thinking everyone could do with some healthy nourishment?"

"I dread the thought of what you consider healthy" Giles quipped from his place on the floor, Buffy now sitting in his lap and leaning against his chest she looked up to her watcher "I'm hungry"

Xander smiled and dropped to his knees and started digging through his cooler "I knew I could count on the Buffster to have my back!" he winked at Buffy then pulled out Capri-Suns and Cheetos. At the look on Giles face he held up hand to stop the older man from speaking "There's more!" he then pulled out bread, cheese, cold cuts and even carrot sticks.

After lunch and a quick potty break Xander and Buffy made their way to the playground so Willow and Giles could go over the what had made Buffy a 3 year old. Willow walked Giles through the spell step by step and from what he heard they had done everything nearly perfect. Every once and a while Giles would glance up to the playground to check on Buffy. He had Willow go over everything one more time just in case he missed something the first time around. The watcher couldn't see why the spell wouldn't work in a normal situation but that fact of the matter is that Buffy was already de-aged at the time of the second casting which meant this first de-aging was also a spell or curse. He was letting Willow know what his conclusion had been when he heard his name being called. Giles looked towards the caller and seen Buffy standing with Xander on steps of the playset, she was waving her hands and jumping while Xander laughed.

"Giles tome pay peaseeee!" she called out with excitement. Giles cleared his throat and looked to Willow who smiled at him and took the book from his hands "Go on Mr. Mom" she joked, which earned her a scowl as Giles stood and slowly made his way to the playground like a man condemned. When he was close enough to hear him Xander said "You look like a man on his way to the 'chair'" he let a laugh at Giles face "Come on G-man it's just playtime"

Before Giles could reprimand Xander on his unwanted nickname Buffy piped in while tugging on Xanders jeans "Don't tall him dat. Hims name's Giles"

Giles couldn't help but smile at the way she came to his defense and let out a chuckle at the teens face when he realized Buffy set him straight.

"Thank you Buffy" he smiled at her and held out his hand for her which she gladly took. Xander walked back to Willow and collapsed on the blanket next to her and settled down for a snooze.

After several no's from Giles and one pouty lip from Buffy she had finally 'convinced' him to go down the slide with her. They climbed the steps that lead to a bridge which lead to another set of steps, once at the top Giles looked around and seen Willow was on her laptop and Xander was asleep so he quickly sat down with his legs out in front of him and put Buffy on his lap and pushed them down. Buffy giggled all the way down the spiral slide, at the bottom Giles put her on the ground then stood up himself then glanced at Willow who was still on her laptop.

"Again! Again!" Buffy jumped up and down and grabbed for Giles hand with her little one "Again Giles! Pease!"

"One more time then I'll push you on the swings alright?"

Buffy held up both her hands with 3 fingers sticking up on one and 2 sticking up on the other "This many more times!" she smiled at him

"Buffy.."

"Pease?" she looked up at him '_Bloody hell there's that lip again. Lord help me!' _Giles pushed down the hand with the 3 fingers up and knelt in front of her and held the other hand she held towards him

"I will go down the slide this many more times and no more than that" he touched one finger and counted "One" and then touched the second one "Two. We will go another two," he pause and held two of his own fingers up "more times one the slide okay?"

Buffy looked at her hand then his "2?"

"Yes, 2 more times then swings" Giles stood up and cracked his back "Ready?"

The little nodded her with gusto "Uh huh!" she took his hand and lead him to the playset stairs with a skip in her step because she was able to sneak in two more goes of the slide.

On the last turn for the slide Giles sat down and situated Buffy in his lap with his arms around her middle. Buffy held on to his arms and bounce from excitement as she felt him scooting them down the top of the slide, she whooped out loud and giggles all the way down. Giles laughed at how something so simple could make such a big event for his slayer; as they hit the bottom of the slide, both still laughing, Giles heard a click and looked up to see Willow standing there with a disposable camera and big smile on her face. Willow held up the camera "Say cheese!"

Buffy smiled brightly and hugged Giles' arms around her middle "CHEESE!"

Giles looked down at Buffy with a soft smile and Willow took the shot. Giles then scooted them off the slide and brushed off his jeans and put Buffy down doing the same to her. Buffy started bouncing from foot to foot with a scrunched face, Giles knew that look he was about to speak when Buffy said "I hasta potty!" she started jumping up and down and grabbed for Giles hand with urgency. Willow scooped Buffy up "I got this Giles" and rushed off towards the restrooms. Giles went and sat on the blanket as Xander was waking up so he filled him on the fact that the reason the spell had not worked with Buffy.

Soon he heard a sobbing cry and he whipped his head towards the sound and seen Willow kneeling next to a crying Buffy who was holding her knees. He could tell Willow was trying to calm his little slayer by trying to see her knees but Buffy was shaking her head no and Willow then looked panicked. Giles the got to his feet and rushed to them with Xander not too far behind him. When he reached them he heard the miserable sobs coming from Buffy, Willow looked up a at him with a helpless face "We were just walking, well skipping and she tripped and I think she skid her knees but she wouldn't let me see"

The older man knelt next to Buffy who was still sobbing with her hands on her knees, he ran a thumb under her eyes to wipe the falling tears "Buffy let me take a look "

Buffy shook her head no "My owies hurt too much"

Giles lifted Buffy fireman style with his arm under the back of her knees and the other supporting her back. She continued to cry as they walked back to the blanket under the tree.

"I'm sorry Giles I didn't mean for…"

"This isn't your fault Willow, it was an accident" Giles sat down with Buffy in his lap "Buffy I need to see your abrasions"

The little girl stopped crying long enough to look confused "My wha… what?" she hicccuped

"You're owies. G-man here just don't know how to cut it short is all" Xander piped in

Giles frowned at the boy then looked to Buffy who was silently crying "May I please see your… owies?" he felt silly saying the word, Xander and Willow smirked at him.

"S'gonna hurt" Buffy said miserably as a tear rolled down her cheek

"Buffy please I need to see how badly you hurt yourself" he reached down to remove one of her hands by taking hold of one of her tiny wrists and pulled it away from her scraped knee, he looked at the tiny knees that was slightly bleeding from the layer of skin that was scratched off. He repeated his actions with her other hand, Buffy sniffled as she watched him inspect her 'owies'.

Giles reached into the bag he had brought and pulled out Neosporin and Band-Aids as he said soothing words to Buffy. He put antiseptic on his finger tip then looked down at Buffy "Alright little imp this may sting a bit but I promise to do it quickly, Alright?"

The little slayer buried her head into Giles chest and shook her head no and began to cry again. Giles sighed "If starts to hurt too much I want you to tell me and I'll stop okay?"

"Promise?" came the muffled reply

Giles rolled his eyes and smiled "Yes. I promise Buffy" when he didn't get a response he took that as the go ahead. He quickly but gently started to smear the medicine on her knees and Buffy squirmed in his lap and let out a whimper. Then he wiped off his finger and gently put on her band aids; Willow and Xander watched and were brought back to a time when Buffy, older Buffy, had been patrolling and been sliced on the arm by a dagger. She had fought Giles tooth and nail when he wanted to clean it up because it would 'hurt' but in the end Giles won with the promise of him stopping if it hurt her too much. '_Some things never change'_ they thought.

"There," Giles said as he patted her bottom "All done. You did very well Buffy" he took out a hanky from his pocket and dried her left over tears.

Buffy hugged Giles tight around his middle "You're the bestest! That didn't hurt!" then she jumped off his lap and ran to Xander "Did ya see my owies? Giles maded them all betters!"

Xander ruffled her hair "Course he did, you're his number one gal Buff"

Buffy gave Xander a toothy smile then turned to Giles and asked "Can I play some more?"

Giles looked at watch they had already been there for 2 hours and was anxious to know if he had any messages about the Codex waiting at home for him, he look back up Buffy and lost all his will to say no "You 30 minutes and then we are leaving"

Both Buffy and Xander pumped their fists and took off towards the swings. Giles smiled and shook his head at their actions. Willow plopped down next to him and started munching on left over carrot stick then held out the baggy and offered him one. Soon Xander and Buffy were hollering their names and calling them to join their game of tag while waving their in the air to be noticed.

It was around 4pm when the four, well 3 since Buffy had fallen asleep and was now being carried by Giles, walked into the watchers home. Giles took Buffy upstairs and laid her down then joined the two teens downstairs. He noticed his answering machine beeping and was anxious to hear the results of his efforts to track down the Codex; Giles figured he might as well listen to with Willow and Xander in the room. Giles pressed play on the machine and listened. At the beep of the machine both Willow and Xander stopped their talking and listened from where they sat on the couch, Xander made a face as a deep, gravelly voice hit his ears with words that were not English. He looked to Willow who shrugged but continued to listen and watch Giles. At the end of the message the machine beeped again and Giles shoulders slumped as he sighed. No luck.

"Giles… is everyth.."

The machine began playing the next message and Giles held up a finger to silence Willow question. He frowned at the words coming from the machine

_"Rupert, are you there? Well I am sorry to 'ave to tell you but I had little success with finding your wanted item mate. Though…'_ there was a pregnant pause and a sigh could be heard _'I don't know what you 'ave gotten yourself into 'cross the pond but you are not the only one searching out the book mate. Dark magic_s _Rupe.. strong too. Be safe n watch your back'_ there was the sound of a click and the machine beeped once more.

Giles sunk down on the desk chair with his elbow resting on his knees. He was deep in thought when he heard Willow and Xander whispering back and forth

"Ask him"

"No way Jose. You"

"Yeah, how about no"

Willow shook her head no and tried to shove Xander off the couch as 'encouragement' to break the silence. Giles closed his eyes and let out a sigh

"After going through all the resources we have on Buffy's predicament I was unable to find what happened or why it happened but what I did find were numerous mentions to a prophetic book called The Codex" he looked up to look them in the eye and sat up "The only problem with locating it has proven to be most difficult seeing as it hasn't seen in centuries"

"Well couldn't we do a locator spell?" Willow asked after a moment of silence then quickly shifted her eyes to her lap at the look Giles tossed her way "Right. No magic" she muttered

Xander thought Willow was crazy for suggesting magic so soon after their fiasco and decided to change the subject "Soooo how does one go about finding this book?"

"That has yet to be determined" Giles let out another sigh then stood "I have some connections that may be able to help but not too many and two have already struck out"

"So the first message from what I am assuming was not of the human variety… if HE couldn't even find the book how are WE supposed to get our hands on the lil sucker?"

"Tea?" Giles didn't wait for an answer he just left for the kitchen

"My lips are moving and is coming out… right?" Xander looked to the red head next to him "Right?"

Willow looked from the direction Giles headed to Xander "Tea."

"TEA? Willow what…"

"Xander, Tea is Giles way of not stressing out. Which means at the moment he is stressing and that gives me the wiggens"

"Oh." Xander was quiet "Well great, just great! If the g-mans stressed we are doomed"

Giles came back in the room with a tray of tea and cookies and placed in it on the coffee table in front of them and began pouring the hot liquid into the cups. They drank their tea in silence. Giles placed his tea cup down "If what was said on the phone is true, and I have no doubts that is wasn't then…"

"Whoa whoa whoa! How do you know? How reliable are these _sources_ of yours?" Xander questioned with wide eyes "I mean what if it's like some sort of psych out? What if…"

"I have known the man that gave us that information since my adolescence; his name's Allister O'Reilly and trust me when I say he has earned my trust many times over the years" the tone in Giles voice left no room for argument.

"Okay, so why is this Codex so important?" Willow asked "And why would the baddies be after it too?"

"Two very excellent questions. The Codex is a book of prophecies, any future predicted in this has never been wrong. As for why it sought after I have no clue…"

"Well I know I'm not book guy or brain guy but I hafta think if there is bad mojo involved in the search then this is gonna be bad like uber bad right? I mean the big bads knowing the future that's like using game cheats. Stinkin' cheaters"

"Yes, this book falling into the wrong hands could be catastrophic. I have heard there are predictions of the worlds end in there"

"uh yeah I pretty much summed it up with uber bad" Xander jabbed

"Giles?"

The watcher looked at the tiny girl who called his name from the loft, she was standing at the top of the stairs rubbing the sleep from her eyes; the two pigtails Giles done her hair in that morning were now lopsided and little hairs stuck up all over her head.

Giles made his way up the stairs and lifted her to sit on his hip and brushed some wild hairs from her face "Did you have a nice nap?" Buffy nodded her head and leaned her head down on his shoulder.

There was no more talk of the Codex or anyone who was after it once Buffy had woke from her nap. Instead there was coloring and watching something called Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, even some story telling. Willow and Xander left before it got too dark and were told to call when they reached home. After they left Giles went to the kitchen to search out something to make for dinner, there wasn't much. He made a mental note to go shopping tomorrow. Giles put some noodles to boil then went and sat on the couch with Buffy, who climbed in his lap to continue watching TV.

After a quick and messy dinner of spaghetti Giles decided a bath was in order. He let Buffy play till her fingers were pruney then drained the water and wrapped her in a towel. Once she was dressed in her pajamas Giles sat her between his legs and brushed out the tangles from her damp locks. Buffy sat there telling him about her games she played at the park with Xander and the pictures she drew with Willow, Giles listened as he brushed her hair adding acknowledgements here and there so she knew he was paying attention. After he was satisfied with handy work he undid the bed with the 'help' of Buffy. Buffy climbed in bed and sat Indian style and watched Giles as picked up her damp towel and tossed it into the hamper.

"Can you tell me a stowy?" she asked from spot on the bed

"Oh you want a story do you?"

Buffy nodded her head "uh huh! Peas!" she flashed him a toothy smile

Giles rolled his eyes at how easily she could get her way "Alright one story coming up"

Buffy stood on the bed and jump with joy "Yay!"

"I don't think so Imp. No more monkeys jumping on the bed" Giles caught her under her arms "You might fall off the bed and hurt yourself"

"I'm no monkey!" she said with a giggle, as Giles laid her down on her pillow and started pulling the blankets around her he sang 'No more monkeys' to her. By the last part of the song Buffy was loudly singing along with him.

"Again! Again!" she pleaded as he finished singing

"Sorry little one but I am out of monkeys maybe tomorrow. Let's tell you your story it's getting late and I know one little girl that had a long day of playing who must be tired"

Buffy let out a sigh and held out her arms for a hug which Giles gladly gave her. He sat on the side of the bed next to her and began telling her the story of Goldilocks; he didn't even make to the bears coming home before Buffy had dozed off. He made sure she was tucked in before he turned off the light and headed downstairs. Deciding he could also use a shower he grabbed a change of clothes and head downstairs.

Not too long after his shower he climbed into bed and prayed that one of his resources would pull through with the Codex or at least some viable information on its whereabouts. He tried not to the think too much about who else could be after the Codex but it was better prepare for the worst after all if he did somehow manage to get the book to Sunnydale anyone searching it out will soon follow its trail.


	9. Chapter 9

[Chapter 9]

It was around noon when Giles decided it was time to make their trip to the store; he couldn't put it off any longer. The watcher helped his little slayer put on her shoes then took her by the hand and headed towards the door.

Giles grabbed a shopping cart and went to pick Buffy up to sit her in the cart seat but she backed up from him and shook her head no.

"I'm a big girl. I wanna walk"

Giles let out a sigh "Yes, you are a big girl but I need in the cart so we can make this trip fast" he then went to lift her again but Buffy stomped her foot "No! I walk!" she said a little too loudly for Giles liking.

"Buffy enough." He said in a firm voice "You're going the in the cart this isn't up for debate"

Buffy crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at her watcher "NO! I DON'T WANNA!" she then stomped her feet again "I'M WALKING!"

"No, you are going in the seat. Now stop making a scene this instant" Giles noticed the passerby's eyeing them as they passed. One older lady had the nerve to shake her head as if she were disgusted. He couldn't help feeling slightly embarrassed at the way Buffy was acting in public. Giles decided that this wasn't up for discussion any longer so he picked her up and went to put her in the basket. Buffy kicked and squirmed while shouting 'No' over and over. More people had stopped to see the scene unfold. Giles let out a growl and set Buffy on the ground and grabbed her shoulders to make her look at him and then said, so only she could hear "You, young lady have just earned yourself a spanking when we get home. This is not how you act. Ever." His voice was hushed but stern. Buffy immediately stopped her fussing at his threat and looked at him with wide eyes her bottom lip popped out and started to quiver; Giles knew what was coming next, then Buffy eyes watered and she sniffled. Tears spilled from her eyes and she started to cry, Giles felt his heart clench but he knew he need to stay firm so he simply lifted her and placed her in the seat while she sniffled quietly to herself. The small group of people that had formed dispersed as he made his way into the store.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, Buffy stayed quiet for most of it with exception of pointing out what she wanted to eat and drink. She eventually livened up and started asking for items and smiled when Giles had said yes to most of them. They were waiting in line to check out, Giles scanned the magazines and Buffy eyed the candy.

"Can I get these pease?" she asked in a sweet voice and gave puppy dog eyes as she pointed to a package of gummy bears

Giles looked from his magazine to see what she was pointing at. Then his internal debated started if he said no he risked another tantrum but if he said yes then was he rewarding her earlier behavior?

"Oh sweetie you don't want those" the foreign voice brought him out of his thoughts "I see your daddy already has fruit snacks in the basket and those are WAY better tasting"

The voice was coming from a sweet looking elderly woman with silver hair and jeweled cane; she was in front of them in line. He watched as Buffy put thought into what she had said.

"Weally?" she asked skeptically

"Oh yes really. Trust me, I have been around long enough to try them all and the ones in your cart are THEE best" the old lady smiled at Buffy and threw Giles a wink.

"Otay then" Buffy looked to Giles "I don't want 'em anymore" then she looked back to the old lady and eyed her for a moment "I like your sticky thing. Why's your hair that color?"

"Buffy…" Giles coughed

The old held up her hand up "Oh it's alright. She is just curious" she told him then looked to Buffy and smiled "My hair is this color dear because I am on old lady now but I used to have hair the same color as you when I was younger"

Buffy reached up and touched her own hair, which was in two ponytails, and asked "Will I have your hair when I get old like you?"

Giles felt his face redden at the fact that Buffy had just called this woman old.

Again the older lady smiled and let out a chuckle "Oh yes. You will grow up and live a long happy life, surrounded by family and eventually have hair as grey as mine"

Giles couldn't help but think of the life span for most slayers and it crushed his heart to think that his slayer might not even make it to 18 let alone old enough to start greying. He quickly shook himself of his depressing thoughts; he would lay his life down in order to keep her alive he thought with determination. He noticed Buffy was now eyeing the items in the cart so he stepped forward and held out his hand to the older lady "Rupert Giles" he introduced himself as he did

The older woman shook his hand and said "Evelyn Price. You have a beautiful little girl there Mr. Giles"

Giles wanted to correct the lady and let her know that Buffy wasn't his but decided it would come out wrong and he didn't want to answer questions with made up answers, so he let Evelyn think what she wanted. Giles politely thanked her for the compliment and for changing Buffy's mind about the candy.

Evelyn chuckled and said "Oh no worries I know what it's like to be the 'bad guy' when a youngen wants sweets and you have to tell 'em no"

"Yes, well thank you for that. I am afraid I don't have the hang of denying her what she wants"

"Well that's your duty when it comes to having a daddy's girl" she replied with a smile then moved to pay for her items. Before she left she said her goodbyes and Buffy waved her farewells.

When they reached home Giles took Buffy in first and sat her on the couch, telling her to stay put while brought in the groceries. When he received Buffy's nod he went outside to grab the first load of bags, he brought them in and put then on the kitchen counter glancing Buffy's direction as he did. After he brought the last load of bags in he closed the front door and turned to Buffy only to find her spot vacant.

"Buffy?" he called out her name and listened when he didn't receive a reply he walked down the hall towards the bathroom. Empty. He frowned and mad his way back to the living room calling out her name as he did. He went upstairs and checked his room and came up empty handed.

Standing in the middle of the living room he called out her name again "BUFFY?" he tried to stay calm thinking that she couldn't have gone far. Then he was struck with the memory of when she had disappeared at the Summers home, he made his way to the front door just as the phone started ringing. Giles glanced at the phone _'it might be about the Codex' _he took two steps towards the ringing machine then stopped_ 'Buffy takes priority. Always.'_ He thought as opened the front door and stepped outside into the sun. Giles heard the answering machine beep as he walking into the courtyard of his complex, he scanned the yard "Buffy?" no answer. Getting annoyed Giles called out one more time "Elizabeth Anne Summers you have to the count of 3 to get your bottom where I can see it, young lady" he waited a few seconds before he started to count out loud.

"One." He again scanned the yard and listened for any clue of his missing slayer

"Two." Part of him began to panic, what if she wasn't hiding this time? What if a vampire got… _'no that's impossible old man. One, she couldn't have invited one in and two it's the middle of the bloody afternoon'_ he thought as he frowned at his own ridiculousness.

"If I get to three you are going to be one sorry little girl" he called in warning and waited. Again, nothing.

"Alright then. Thr…"

"Here! I'm wight here"

Giles turned to see Buffy standing in his doorway shuffling her feet and looking at the ground. The watcher let out a sigh of relief and walked to her wearing a stern face "Let's get in the house" his hand between her shoulder blades helped guide her over the threshold. When he was passing the kitchen he noticed he still has groceries to put away, so he sat Buffy at the counter and said "You are stay here until I am finished. You are not to move. Understood?" when Buffy didn't answer he put a finger under her chin to lift her face to look at him "Understood?"

Buffy sniffled a little "Uh huh"

Satisfied she wouldn't move he went into the kitchen and began putting away everything he had purchased. After he had finished. Giles walked to Buffy, who was sitting quietly in her chair, and helped her to stand on the ground "Come on, you and I need to have a talk little one"

Giles sat himself in the armchair and had Buffy stand between his knees; He took in her form, her shoulders were slumped and her mouth curved down in a 'sad' way. Giles could hardly bring himself to reprimand 16 year old Buffy how the bloody hell was he supposed to reprimand 3 year old Buffy? Giles took a deep breath and counted to 5 in his head then began to talk.

"Buffy, why didn't you come when I first called for you?"

The only response he received was a small shrug of her tiny shoulders. Giles fought the urge to roll his eyes "Buffy shrugging isn't an answer. Now, try again please"

Buffy placed her hands on his knees and looked up at him then back down as she started picking at some invisible thread on his pants and mumbled something. Giles strained to hear her but couldn't quite make out what she had said so he asked her to repeat herself.

"Cause I don't wanna spankin" she said as her lip quivered and her eyes became glossy

"Ah, I see." He had almost forgotten that he had told her that's what to expect when they got home after her little _show _at the supermarket, in all honesty he didn't think he could even follow through with the threat but he was a man of his word and letting her get away with it could cause more grief later on. He let out a long sigh; he was torn on how to handle the situation. He decided to move along with the questions.

"Where were you then?"

"In da clothes room"

"The clothes room?" He sat for a moment trying to decode what that could have meant "The little room in my room upstairs? The closet?"

Buffy nodded her head and softly said "I was hidin'"

"Alright Buffy listen to me because this is very important"

"'portant?"

"Yes, important. When I tell you stay, you stay. If I call you, you come when I call you. I need to know that you understand me right now"

Buffy looked up at him with round eyes "Why?"

Giles put his hands over hers "Because it's to keep you safe. I need to know that you will listen to me. It is job is to protect you" and that couldn't come any closer to the truth seeing as that he was basically born to protect 'the chosen one'.

"Otay I un'erstand" she gave Giles a little nod. The watcher hoped she really did understand because seeing as they lived on the Hell Mouth, he had a lot more then strangers and kidnappers to worry about; especially if word spread about Buffy's predicament.

Giles took another deep breath; it was time to address her tantrum at the store. He squared his shoulders and looked Buffy in the eye when he spoke "Now little one we need to speak about how you acted at the store today"

Buffy shook her head slowly "I don't wanna" she said softly

"Well I do." Giles replied to his little slayer before continuing "The way you acted today Buffy was unacceptable. That's not how little girls should act when they do not get their way"

"But im'ma big girl! I don't like da baskey"

"I understand you _think_ you're a big girl but I am the grownup. While it is true you are no longer a baby you do still have to listen to me. That was not a very nice way to act young lady"

Giles looked down at his little slayer; she was standing there with watery eyes and her bottom lip poked out as it trembled. The watcher let out a long sigh, he knew what he was about to do would probably come back to kick him in the shins later but it doesn't stop the next words from leaving his lips.

"Tonight you will have an early bedtime and no sweets after dinner" Giles put a finger to Buffy's lips when she went to protest to keep her from speaking then continued "You will also 5 minute timeout starting as soon as we are done talking"

Buffy crossed her arms at her punishment and pouted. Giles frowned slightly at her actions and said "You should be thankful I don't have you over my knees for that smacking I promised you at the store young one"

That stopped any further antics on Buffy's part. The watcher stood and took a chair from the dining table and placed in the corner next to his bookshelf the crooked a finger to Buffy. She slowly made her way to Giles, her feet dragging as she did. When she had finally reached her destination Giles lifted her and made her sit facing the corner "You may get up when you are told your time is up and not before or your time will restart Buffy"

Buffy's shoulders sagged and a tear made its way down her cheek, it took all Giles strength not to let his little slayer up at that moment. He walked away from his little charge and made his way to the kitchen to whip up some PB&J's checking the time as did. Giles had just pulled out some celery from the fridge when there was a knock at the door.

'_Odd,' _he thought _'who could that be?'_

Walking to the door Giles check the time again… 3 minutes down… he glanced at Buffy who was still sniffling and continued making his way to the door. Giles checked the peep hole and didn't see anyone, he looked back to make sure Buffy was still seated then opened the door to find his porch empty. He frowned and reached into his jacket for a stake then stepped outside and scanned the courtyard, his grip tightening around his weapon. The air was still and it was quiet, too quiet Giles thought. He didn't even hear birds chirping which was odd for 2 in the afternoon. Giles scanned the area once more taking in any movement there might have been.

"Watcha doin?"

Giles nearly jumped out of his own skin when he heard the voice, he had only just managed to hold back a not too manly yelp. He turned around to find Buffy standing at the door watching him, his look of startlement turn stern.

"Were you told your timeout was over?" he asked as ushered her over the threshold of his home

"Uhmm yes?" Buffy replied giving Giles a hopeful smile

"Let's not add lying to your misdeeds little imp" he continued to steer her towards the cornered chair then lifted her up and place on her vacated seat "You still have one minute of time left but I am adding one more for getting up"

Buffy lip popped out and she gave Giles a pitiful little whimper "Now, now none of that at least I am not going to make you start your full time over again Imp" he patted her on her head and left to set the table. A moment later the front door opened and Willow and Xander made their way into the house.

Willow had a full paper bag in her hands and Xander had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. "Hey guys!" the red head said as she set her bag down on the table. Giles turned to look at Buffy who was about to attempt to leave the chair when hearing Willow

"Don't even think about it Buffy, you still have time on the clock"

Buffy let out a huff of air and slouched while crossing her arms. Her feet started swinging back and forth, that's when Giles turned to the two teens that had just let themselves into is home. Willow gave him a sheepish smile and Xander dropped his bag to the ground with a thud. Giles walked to the kitchen and grabbed the plate he made for Buffy and placed it at the table; he felt the looks he was getting from Willow and Xander and said "Now don't look at me that way. Her time will be up soon, sooner if she hadn't moved from her seat before her time was up"

Giles checked the time then walked over to where Buffy was seated, he knelt down to be eye level with his little slayer "Alright Buffy your time is up. Can you tell why you had to sit on timeout?"

Buffy to a deep breath "'cause of the store and 'cause I gotted up"

Giles nodded "That's correct. You may leave the corner now Imp but I do not a repeat performance from earlier anytime soon or I will give you that spanking I promised you"

Buffy nodded then her eyes flicked to see if Willow and Xander heard about the spanking but neither looked to be paying her or Giles any attention she looked at Giles as she got up from the chair and then leaned into him for a hug which he happily returned. He held her from him and smiled "Alright Imp time for lunch"

When she went to leave he patted her bottom to get her going. Buffy ate her crustless PB&J and celery sticks while Giles, Willow and Xander talked.

"Any more news on the book?" Xander asked

Giles shook his head then motioned to the bag they had brought in with them with a questioning look. Willow smiled and grabbed her paper bag and handed it to him "I had nothing to do when I was grounded so…" she trailed off

He opened the bag and looked inside and found four freshly whittled stakes and pulled one out inspect it. "Excellent wood work Willow"

The red head beamed at the compliment "Thanks. I learned from the best"

Giles had shown them all how to carve stakes so they would always have one on hand in case of emergency. Buffy watched as Giles walked to a chest she hadn't noticed before and put the 'sticks' gave him in there. Her curiosity peaked. She munched on her celery stick and thought about what else could be in the big wooden box.

After lunch she was allowed to go play in the front with Xander and Willow whiles Giles cleaned up around the house and started a load of laundry.

Willow was busy 'looking' for Buffy and Xander as it was their turn to hide in their game of hide and seek, she could see Xanders broad shoulders sticking out from the back of the tree but played as if she couldn't.

Buffy tried hard to stifle her giggles when Willow walked passed them and Xander put his finger to his lips and gave a quiet 'Shhh'. When the mini slayer had seen Willow had walked to the other side of the yard she started to whisper to the older teen

"Xanner?"

The boy looked down at pint sized Buffy "What up lil B?" he asked as low as he could while he scanned the yard for the red head.

"What's Giles got in that BIIIIIIGGGGG," she spread her arms to emphasize the size "woody box?"

"Big bo… OH! Uh stay away from that box okay? Don't want you getting in deep with the G-man"

"Deep?" she asked confused and brow scrunched

Xander nodded "Yeah, deep. As in trouble. The G-man is no one to toe the line with, okay?" he said as he thought about Giles threat if him and Willow did another spell without permission.

Just then Willow popped out from the other side of the tree "GOTCHA!"

Xander let out a less then manly yelp and grabbed his heart, faining having a heart attack; causing Buffy and Willow to laugh. He fell to the ground, laying on his back with his eyes closed and tongue hanging out. Giles walked out to see Buffy pulling on Xanders arm while he played 'dead'. The watcher put his tray that held cold drinks on the table as Buffy called out to him

"Giles! Giles help! He's dead" and pointed to a sprawled out Xander whose eyes were still shut

"Dead huh? And how did that happen?"

Buffy pointed an accusing finger at Willow "She did it!"

Giles chuckled at the face Willow made at being thrown under the bus then said "Well you know… I do think I know how to revive him"

"You do?!"

"Oh yes, it works every time too"

"What do we do? What do we do?" Buffy asked in a hurry

Giles grabbed a glass of ice water from the tray with a smirk and walked to stand above Xander and then looked at Buffy "Ready?"

The little girl went to stand next to Xander as well then leaned down and whispered to him "Don't worry Xanner Giles will save ya" then stood back and nodded at her watcher. Willow watched on with a giant smirk as Giles help the cup over Xander still form and poured the ice water all over the boys face.

"YOWZA!" Xander shouted as her jumped up from the ground and danced around with his hair plastered to the sides of his face

Buffy threw up her hands and did a dance as well "YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"Gee, thanks" Xander replied as Giles and Willow broke down laughing.

After he changed into a dry shirt Xander the rest of the scoobs spent the day in the house watching TV, drawing, reading books ect. Dinner was had and then Buffy was put to bed early with no dessert even though both Xander and Buffy tried to protest it but Giles quickly put an end to it with a well-executed threat of no dessert for the remainder of the week if he heard another word on the matter.

Giles came down the stairs to find the two teens getting ready to leave, he checked the time, 7:15pm. He made sure they had protection and made them promise to call when arriving home. A short while later there was a knock at the door. He knew it couldn't have been Willow or Xander so he walked to chest a removed a crossbow and cocked it. Once in front of the door he pulled it open with his weapon at aim.

"'ello Ripper"

There on his porch stood Ethan Rayne, hands shoved into the pockets of his slacks and a god awful dark purple silk shirt. Giles raised the bow higher and his face wore a glare reserved for his old friend turned enemy.

"Now, now Rip…"

"Do not call me that" Giles ground out, his finger twitched towards the trigger

Ethan held his hands up in surrender "I come in peace… well not exactly but I do have some intel that you would fancy to hear mate"

"Not. Interested." Giles moved to slam the door just as Ethan began to speak again but that didn't stop him from closing the door in his face and locking it. He moved to walk away when he hear Ethan's muffled voice through the door.

"I know where the bloody book you fancy is!"

Giles froze then rushed to door swinging it open, bringing his bow back up to aim. "Talk." He ordered. Ethan smiled that slimey smile Giles knew all too well before saying "You don't think I would just fold on my winning hand do you Ripper? I'm no dolt"

The watcher fought the urge to roll his eyes as he said "What's your bloody price?"

"Protection. I want your skirt of a slayer to be my bodyguard of sorts."

"Not bloody likely Rayne" Giles tossed aside the bow and grabbed Ethan by the front of his gaudy shirt bringing him so that practically nose to nose "Now you can tell me on your own free will or I could make you"

Ethan snorted "Make me? Right Rupe. You think I'm scare.."

Giles brought his free hand back and made a fist.

"Alright! I'll talk!" Ethan said as he through his hands up in surrender "They are after your slayer and this bloody book … and before you ask I don't know who 'they' are just that they mean business and don't mind the bloodshed to make what they want happen"

Giles had known Ethan long enough to know when he was lying and right now he wasn't, he might be withholding information but what he was sharing was true. He pulled the man over the threshold not caring where he landed and slammed the door behind him. Ethan stood tall and straightened his wrinkled shirt "No need to rude, ya ponce"

The phone rang as he was about tell Ethan off, he never took his eyes off his old friend as he answered the phone and confirmed Willow was home safe. He came back to stand in front of the other man in the room "Where's the Codex?"

"Here." He open his arm apart as if showcasing the living room "In a sense anyways"

Giles took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose then replaced them and gave Ethan a hardened look "I don't have time for your bloody games. Where is the book?" he took a few steps towards his old mate.

"Alright look. The book is here but not _here_. Same place different time. Dimension, really. The big bads after the book mean to end the Slayer line. For good."

"End it? That's not possible there will always be another slayer to replace the fallen…"

"Not if she isn't dead." Ethan said matter of factly

"They don't mean to kill… then…"

"Just because they won't kill her doesn't mean they won't make her wish they would killed her."

Giles heart became heavy as he looked up to where his little was currently sleeping and let out a deep sigh. Ethan let the information sink in as he walked around looking at the photos in the frames, the books on the shelves, the crayon drawing on the tablet on the coffee table. He studied it for a moment before opening his mouth "I 'ave to admit Rip, your sketches have come a long way" nodding to the drawing

The watcher shook himself from his thoughts to look at Ethan and frowned "I didn't draw that Xander… what time is it?" He checked the clock, it had been almost an hour since the Scoobs left and Willow had already checked in and that made him worry about the teen boy he had yet to hear from.

"Oi, Ripper. Don't just stand there call your skirt and fill her in. All hell is about to break loose in Sunny bloody Dale and she needs to be pert and alert and ready for a massacre"

Giles frowned at the fact that Ethan had just referred to his Slayer as a skirt but he supposed that for Ethan that was being polite so he let it slide. His mind wandered back to Xander. Maybe his father had been on another bender and the poor boy was catching hell for it. Giles wanted nothing more than to go and check but with Buffy being mini sized he had no choice but to say because it would be a cold day in hell when he would trust Ethan with either of those tasks.

"How do we get the Codex?" Giles finally asked

"Ah, Finally you get your head in the game. A simple spell really."

"Nothing has ever been simple with you Ethan" Giles practically growled out

"Look mate, I didn't have to come and help you out"

"Right, you came out of the goodness of your bloody heart. No, you just wanted the Slayer to protect your arse when things go south!" Giles became heated and he felt his temper rising.

Then there was a loud banging at the door. Ethan looked to Giles who had made his way to the crossbow again and was about to pull open the door.

"WAIT!" Ethan shouted "what if it's a demon?"

"Oh yes because all demons are polite and knock before ripping you apart!" Giles shot back with venom as he ripped the door open just as Xander swayed; the watcher was able to take in the teens bloodied face before fell forward.

"Xander!" Giles exclaimed as he caught the almost limp boy from crashing to the ground.

TBC...


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry I didn't get this up as soon as i wanted to... I was having a hard time dealing with the fact that my pup, Dozer, was hit by a car and didn't pull through. He was my best little guy. I also want to thank all my new followers and anyone who took the time read this story and left (Or didn't leave) a comment, It's greatly appreciated! Hope you enjoy the chapter i tried to make it longer for those who have been waiting :)**

**Disclaimer in earlier chapters!**

[Chapter 10]

"Don't just stand there! Help me!" Giles ordered Ethan while trying to keep Xander from falling to the ground

Ethan snapped out of his daze long enough to rush over to door and lift Xander by his legs while Giles handled his top half. They made it to the couch and laid him down. Giles immediately took catalog of all his wounds. A busted lip and eyebrow, maybe a broken nose but he wouldn't be able to tell until he stopped the bleeding, scraped knuckles. Giles lifted Xanders shirt and sure enough there was bruising to abdomen and rib area from being punched or kicked, maybe both. The watcher felt the anger in him take over. No one deserved this. He got up to get his med kit and some towels.

Ethan closed the door then returned to his place by the couch and watched his old friend tend to the young boy on the couch. He may have not have had contact with Rupert in years but he still knew him like the back of his hand and right now he could read every emotion passing over his face; Anger, concern, hoplessness.

"What can I do Rupe?" he asked

Giles looked up from wiping the blood off the teens face when Xander stirred and let out a moan, Giles eyes shot back to him "Xander?"

The boy mumbled something but it was slurred and ran together. Giles put a hand to the back of Xanders head to help him lift it when he felt a knot the size of golf ball he looked to Ethan and said "Bring me an icepack" then back to Xander "No more sleeping for you. You might have a concussion."

After he finished wiping the blood from Xander face he asked "What happened? Was this your father?" he couldn't keep the steel from creeping in to the second question.

At the second question Ethan's ears perked and a frown took place on his face. The boy shook his head no and winced as Giles cleaned the cut on his brow.

Giles leaned closer to Xander and said softly "You don't have to cover…"

"I'm not" the boy rasped out and sat up as best he could without wincing too much, Giles put a guiding hand on his back to help him. No one had noticed Ethan leave the room until he had returned with a glass of water and held it out to Xander; who gladly took the drink and guzzled it down. Giles nodded his thanks and Ethan shrugged, pursing his lips.

After he had downed the glass Xander spoke "Thanks," his voice still gruff but sounded better, he looked to the strange man who had brought him the water "Uh, whoever you are"

Ethan held out his hand "Rayne, Ethan Rayne. I'm an old mate of Rip… Rupert here"

"Mate?" Xander asked as he looked to Giles with slightly rounded eyes

"It means friend… and we're not. Friends that is." The watcher commented.

Ethan put a hand over his heart "Your words hurt like a dagger Ripper ole boy"

"Ripper?"

Giles chose to ignore Xander then asked "What happened to you?" in a serious tone

"Will and I had just went our separate… WILLOW!"

The watcher held up a hand "She is fine, already checked in"

Xander visibly relaxed "Well we said our goodbyes separated. I was almost home when I jumped from behind and pulled into a vacant lot."

Giles began to wipe off the dried blood and checked to see if Xanders nose was broken. It wasn't, though Xander did wince when Giles put pressure on the bridge of his nose. The watcher gave Xander a look that meant for him to continue with his recap of what happened to him.

"There were about 4 maybe 5 of them. They restrained me and started asking where she was but too much was going on at once, I couldn't reach my stake."

Giles frowned "4 or 5 of what and who were they looking for?"

"Vamps, and they kept asking for Buffy. They want her Giles but I wouldn't talk so…"

"They tried to force it out of you." Ethan stated

The teen nodded "But I didn't crack Giles. I wouldn't do that to the Buffster"

Giles put a hand on Xanders shoulder "I know you wouldn't"

"So they just let you go after they thrashed you? Even though they didn't get what they wanted? Not bloody likely" Ethan said with a look of disbelief.

Xander whipped his head to look at Ethan "No, they didn't," he pulled the collar of his shirt from his neck and two shallow punctures could be seen "They were gonna finish me off but one of them said I could be used as a messenger so after they beat the tar out of me they left me there and took off"

Giles put his fingers to Xander neck wound and let him know they weren't deep enough to warrant a change and he again said some comforting words to the boy.

"They want Buffy Giles. They know about her situation. They wanna make sure we don't fix it."

"Speaking of your Slayer… I think it's high time you get her arse here!" Ethan spat out "Where is this precious Buffy of yours?"

"I'm wight here" came a small voice. All three heads in the room looked to the small girl standing at the foot of the stairs, holding a small, stuffed unicorn and who was rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Who the bloody hell is that?" Ethan asked, pointing a finger to the little girl in question

Giles brought a towel to Xander bruised face and the younder boy took the hint to hide his wounds from Buffy so he held it there and Giles stood up and glared at Ethan "Watch your mouth" he warned as walked past the man and picked Buffy up.

"What are you doing up Imp?" he asked as he brushed back some of the hair that had fallen in her face

Buffy let her head fall to his shoulder "I wokeded up cuz it got weally loud"

Giles silently cursed himself for forgetting that Buffy was asleep when all the commotion happened. Giles looked at Xander who was still holding the towel to his busted brow, it would need sticthes. Ethan sat on the coffee table where Giles had vacated just before.

"who's dat?" The little slayer asked while looking at the stranger in her house

"That is…" Giles began

"Uncle Ethan little nibblet and who might you be?" Ethan said in a sweet tone Giles didn't know he was capable of then frowned that he introduced himself as her uncle.

"I'm Buffy!" she exclaimed happily

"Buff…" Ethans eyes widened "Bloody marvelous! Ripper… That's," he pointed to Buffy "the Slayer? Bullocks! What the fu…"

"Finish that word and you will know what it's like to swallow your own tongue" Giles threated in a tone neither Buffy or Xander had heard before. Xander turned his head, he was sure he had never seen that deadly of glare from the G-man either, it gave him the wiggens just seeing it used on someone else.

Ethan stopped talking and gulped "Alright I get it. No need to be a horrible git about it"

The room became quiet the air thick with tension until Buffy broke the silence announcing she needed the potty a few moments later. Giles carried her out of the room leaving Xander and Ethan alone.

"So… old friends huh?" Xander quipped

Ethan rolled his eyes and sat back down on the table "Oh belt up"

The teen couldn't help but smirk then winced when it reopened his split lip and he let out a small hiss. Ethan looked up at the miserable looking boy then grabbed the antiseptic off the table and began putting it on a q-tip but when he went to apply it the boy lip Xander pulled back

"Right. Trust issues. I am not going to harm you. You're hurt. This will help. Unless you are a masochist and are enjoying your predicament."

Xander frowned "A what?"

Ethan couldn't help the chuckle that left his lips "Just let me put the bloody stuff on your lips"

Xander moved back into his upright position and the Chaos worshipper began applying it to his lip. They sat in silence until Ethan said "Look it up."

"Huh?"

"The word. Look it up mate." To which Xander just nodded.

Giles returned with Buffy walking beside him, holding his hand.

"Your boy here is going to need stitches mate"

Xander grimaced at the thought and let out a moan. Buffy finally took notice of Xander on the couch and made her way to him and gave him a tight hug. The boy groaned at the little arms pressing his tender ribs.

Giles pulled Buffy back lightly "That's enough Buffy. It's time for one little girl to get back to bed. Say goodnight"

"Can I stay up? I pwomise I'll be good" she gave Giles her best puppy eyes and she brought her hands together under her little chin

The older man shook his head no "Not tonight Buffy. There was a reason you were in bed early tonight as it is."

Her little shoulders slumped "Awe man"

Giles smiled as he picked Buffy up and made his way to the stairs "Xander I should only be a moment"

About halfway up the stairs Buffy decided to yell out her goodnights "Nighty night Xanner and Uncle Eefin!"

When Giles had returned to the living room he found Ethan stitching up Xanders brow while the boy was drinking from a cup. He came to sit next to Xander on the couch and watched Ethan stitching.

"You know it's a lot harder when you 'ave someone eyes glued to you. Too much pressure. Might accidentally disfigure the chap"

At this Xander busted up laughing. Giles looked to Xander then to Ethan, who just shrugged and said "Just a lil something to take the edge off" then went back to finishing his final stitch.

Giles watched as Xander took another gulp from the cup. That's when all the words Ethan had said fell into place.

"Bloody hell!" Giles marched to Xander a pried the cup from his hands then smelled the liquid inside; He threw his old friend a murderous glare "You gave him scotch?!"

Before Ethan could even respond Giles turned his glare to Xander, who shrank back into the couch at the look.

"You, young man of all people should know better than to partake in drinking!" the look on Giles face was thunderous

Xanders mouth opened and closed a few times before he looked down to his hands that were now in his lap. Giles made his way to Ethan and pulled up from the table by the front of his shirt so that they were now face to face.

"Give me one bloody good reason why I shouldn't break every bone in your pathetic body" he growled out.

The other man winced, he knew that look that Giles was wearing and it didn't bode well for him, he held up his hands palms out in surrender.

"Alright mate…"

"I am NOT your mate."

"The boy needed to calm down and this helped. He's legal in England."

Giles clenched his fist holding the man's shirt and said "He's 16 for Christ sake and this isn't England!"

Ethan's mouth formed an 'O' shape and let his hands and shoulders drop as if admitting he had nothing left to say.

"You are not to do ANYTHING with ANYONE without my permission and if I find out you so much as thought about doing something crass to any of my loved ones I will personally see to it that they never find your body."

Xander lifted his at 'loved ones' then started to feel ashamed he even took the drink when he knew what it was, he was also feeling a little uneasy at seeing a new side of Giles. Just that glare he was giving Ethan was enough to make vamps head for the hills in broad daylight. His stomach was churning at the thought of Giles being upset with him or was it the alcohol that was making him feel nauseous? Xander watched as Ethan agreed to Giles' "terms" while being shoved into the armchair, then the librarian turned to him with a look almost as frightening as the one he wore talking to Ethan. The boy tried to swallow the knot in his throat.

Giles stayed standing as he spoke "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Xander's stomach was really churning now "I… I'm sorry"

The watcher took in the boy's appearance; torn collar, bloody hair, stitched brow, swollen lip and slightly green hued face then sighed.

"I'm sure you are and we will be having a _discussion_ about your discretions in the morning. Right now I do believe a shower then bed is in order for you" Giles said as he proceeded to help him off the couch and lead him down the hall to the bathroom.

Xander tried not to think about the way Giles had used the word 'discussion' as the hot water hit the back of his neck but he couldn't help it. Giles had left him to shower after he brought him some sweats and an old t-shirt, his stomach was in turmoil and his head was starting to hurt something fierce. He didn't want to seem like a baby by telling Giles his 'tummy' hurt; after all he DID choose to drink the beverage knowing full well it was alcohol. Xander groaned and turned off the water.

He shuffled into the living room to see Giles coming down the stairs with a blanket under his arms, he watched as the watcher tossed the blanket to Ethan. When Giles noticed Xander in the room he spoke "You'll be sleeping upstairs. I have already made your bed."

Xander nodded then continued to stand there debating on whether to mention his stomach issues or not. Giles looked up to see him still rooted in the same spot and raised his eyebrows "Goodnight."

The boy took the hint and headed upstairs, holding in the groan that wanted to leave his lips as his stomach rolled again. Giles watched him go then sighed_ 'it's going to be a long night'_ he thought. He looked Ethan who was laying out the blanket on the couch "You better be here when I get up"

Ethan rolled his eyes "Where else would I be mate? The worlds about to go to hell and this is the safest place I know of at the moment"

It was Giles turn to roll his eyes. He turned to head up the stairs when Ethan asked "Oi Rupe can't an old friend get some sleep clothes?"

Giles just kept walking up the stairs and without even looking back said "No." Leaving Ethan alone for the night.

As Giles assumed the night did turn out to be a long one. He had been up three times with Xander who lost all contents in his stomach each time and once more with Buffy who had a fit when she couldn't find her unicorn in the middle of the night. Giles opened his eyes and peeked at the time, 6:45am. He sat up and looked at Buffy, she was sleeping on her side with one hand clutching the stuffed toy and the other tucked under her cheek; he then looked to the boy who was sleeping on the air mattress beside him. Xander looked a little pale and the bruises on his face were more evident, he surely would be feeling the effects of last night when he woke.

Giles quietly made his way downstairs after his morning shower. Ethan was already up and brewing coffee. The other man looked up from the brewing pot when he heard the sounds of footsteps.

"Morning mate" he said as he pulled out a coffee cup from the cabinet

Giles rolled his eyes and muttered "Make yourself at home" as he sat at the counter.

A cup of coffee was pushed in front of him and he looked up to his old friend with a slight frown "Looks like you could use something stonger than tea Rupe" was all Ethan said.

They sat in awkward silence as they drank their coffee then Ethan spoke "How is the boy?"

"Not much better thanks to you" Giles spat out

The other man let out a sigh "I was trying to help…"

"Well next time, don't"

"Awe come on Ripper we used to drink that like water when we were his age!"

"Yes well we were young and stupid with a death wish"

Ethan chuckled "Yeah but we had some good times didn't we? They weren't all bad"

Giles couldn't help but smirk at some of the memories that fluttered across his mind before he schooled his features again. He took a large drink from his mug and sighed, those were the days he had tried to run from his destiny of being a watcher.

As if reading his mind Ethan said "That was before you went all prim and proper with this watcher business. You were my wing man you know"

Giles chose to ignore the last comment and decided to change the subject "How can you be sure about the Codex?"

"Always business with you now isn't it?" Ethan took a drink of his coffee then continued "I did a locator spell when it pointed me here but it wasn't a strong enough signal so I tweaked the spell a bit"

"And it pointed you to another dimension?" Giles sounded skeptical

"Yeah, but I am not strong enough alone to open a… portal?... opening… doorway…"

Giles held up his hand "Alright I get it. So what do you need?"

"You. Or someone just as strong in magics as you. Though I doubt there is anyone else… trustworthy anyway."

"So what happens…"

"Now, now mate sharing is caring and I think it's time you share with me. What happened to your Slayer?"

After a short internal debate with himself on whether he should let Ethan in on what was going on with Buffy, he decided it couldn't hurt. He went on to tell Ethan the major events from night one when he found her in the wooded area to when Xander and Willow tried to 'help' with magic of their own.

"So the magic conflicted?" Ethan asked

Giles nodded "As far as I can tell, yes. There are no other indications as to why she didn't return to her normal age"

"They are lucky the 2 spells didn't battle it out inside her and kill the poor girl."

Again Giles nodded "Believe me when I say it will be long time before they are brave enough to try magic on their own again."

It was late in the morning when Xander woke up. He stayed lying in bed for about 10 minutes before he worked up the nerve to face Giles. Letting out a sigh he sat up and winced at the ache in his ribs and the throbbing in his temples. Xander looked to the time, 9:50am then he noticed the glass of water and two Tylenol pills with a note that said 'Take these' sitting on the night stand.

Afterwards the teen made his way done the stairs and found Giles and Buffy sitting at the couch and the older man was in the middle putting Buffy's hair up into a pony tail while she prattled on about some random stuff.

"Buffy keep your head still or I will have to start over" Giles warned for what seemed like 20th time. Xander smirked at the sight of Giles trying to perfect the 3yr olds hair do as she wiggled to get comfy. Giles heard footsteps behind him but continued to smooth out any stray hairs on Buffy's head.

Xander stood awkwardly behind the couch debating whether or not he should announce himself, he really didn't want to hear what Giles had to say about his liquid intake from last night. A moment went by before Giles spoke "How are you feeling this morning?"

His voice didn't sound as steely as it had last night but it wasn't bubbly either. Xander thought about his answer "My head kinda kills and feel like I was hit by freight train"

Giles turned to look at the boy "And your stomach?"

Xander felt his cheeks color when he remembered a flash of puking on Giles when he was trying to help him to the restroom. The teen just looked to the ground then back to the older man "Uh, about that…" Xander put a hand to the back of his own neck and rubbed "I… I'm sorry for…"

Giles released Buffy, who went straight for her dolls and started playing, and stood up to face Xander "I don't want an apology. I want to hear that you will _never_ again drink before you're legal, if then." His voice wasn't hard but he was speaking with purpose but when Xander went to promise he would never drink again Giles continued "We'll talk more about your choices during Buffy's nap."

Xander just nodded then the watcher asked "Did you take the medication I left you on the nightstand?"

At Xander's second nod Giles said "Good, they should kick in soon. They will help with your discomfort. _ALL_ your discomfort."

That's when Ethan appeared from the down the hall looking freshly showered with his hair still wet. He looked to where Buffy was playing on the floor and he smirked "'ello lil bit, not going to say 'ello to your Uncle Ethan?"

Buffy looked up and smiled; dropping her dolls she got up to hug Ethan but when she was about to pass Giles he put a hand on her shoulder stopping her, she looked up at him, confused. Giles looked down at her "Buffy why don't you go and get your shoes. Can't have you walking around getting your socks dirty."

The little girl stood there and looked from Giles to Ethan then back to Giles, she wanted to say hi to Ethan but she was being told to do something else. She sighed and walked up the stairs to get her shoes. When she was out of earshot Giles looked to Ethan "Stop calling referring to yourself as her uncle"

Ethan sat in the armchair "Why? She is basically your little welp and I figured what could it hurt? 'Sides mate it's easier to explain then 'Oh I'm the man your daddy used to reap havoc and hell with when we younger but he went to the light and I stayed a bad man' isn't it?"

Giles frowned "I'm not her da…"

Ethan rolled his eyes and cut Giles off "Right you could 'ave fooled me. I 'ave been her less than 24 hours and I have already witnessed you play daddy to the runt and the boy wonder" at the last words he nodded towards Xander, who was still standing behind the couch, then looked back to Giles "I'm surprised you 'aven't taken the boy 'cross your knee for his delinquency"

Xander felt his cheeks get hot at what Ethan had just said and looked to the floor. Giles just frowned at the other man "You gave him that damn scotch!"

"Yeah but he didn't 'ave to drink it. Did he?" Ethan replied with an air of arrogance.

Xander started feeling embarrassed that everything that Ethan was saying was true, he didn't HAVE to drink. He also thought about how he let Giles down choosing to do so. Giles. He had only known the man since the beginning of the school year but he had already done things for him that his REAL dad had never done and would probably never do for him. Right off Giles had figured out his home was less than perfect and pulled him aside one night to talk about it, promising him a place to stay if he ever needed it.

_'Great, I'm a mondo jerk'_ Xander thought to himself about letting Giles down. He let out a sigh and let his shoulders slump.

Giles noticed the teens posture and walked to the other side of the couch to place a hand on his shoulder.

"See? What I mean?" Ethan pointed out

Giles shot him a glare when Buffy came with her shoes in hand. "Found 'em!"

It was late in the afternoon when Willow swung by the complex. When she entered the house she seen Xander and Buffy sitting on the floor watching 'The Little Mermaid' while munching on the goldfish crackers, she smiled and looked around for Giles but did see him.

"Where's Giles? And how come you were a no show today?" she asked

Buffy turned around at the sound of the red heads voice and jumped up and ran to her wrapping her legs in a tight hug. Willow lifted the little slayer and hugged her to her chest telling her how much she had missed her while she was at school. Xander made his way over to the two huggers and leaned on the back of the couch, watching them.

"Hi ya Will" he gave a goofy grin and did a quick wave of his hand before crossing them across his chest

Willow looked up from hugging her best friend and took in her other best friends appearance and widened her eyes with a gasp "Xander! Your face!"

"It's nothing Will" he shrugged

Willow put Buffy on the ground and looked back at Xander coming closer to him "Uh, no it's not. That looks terrible"

"Gee, thanks for the confidence boost" he said as he rolled his eyes

"He gotted his owies from bullies!" Buffy piped in. Earlier that morning when she had first seen Xanders face she questioned it. Giles didn't really want to get into a conversation with a 3yr old about vampires, which would probably keep her up nights so he had told her it was bullies. After hearing what happened to her 'Xanner' she went over to him and kissed his boo boos to make him feel better. "But I maded them better! Huh Xanner?" she looked to the older boy.

Xander ruffled her hair "That's right kiddo. Hey you're missing 'Under The Sea'" and with that Buffy took off to sit in front of the TV. When he seen she was into her movie he looked to Willow and pointed to his face "Vamps. They want the slayer" he let his eyes wander to the little who was now dancing to the music.

"What? Why? She just a lil thing now?" worry laced her voice

"Don't know… and you know what's weird? G-man has an old friend in town, staying here actually… But there is no way they are buds now"

"Why'd you say that?"

"Well let's just say I have never seen that side of Giles and I NEVER want to again. This Ethan guy doesn't exactly bring out the nice in the G-man" Xander pretended to get the chills for effect.

"Anyways as soon as they get back G-man said he would fill me in so you came by at a good time"

When Giles and Ethan returned they walked in to find the three 'children' dancing around the living room to some song that was coming from the TV. Giles smiled at them and put his bags down on the table. Ethan rolled his eyes at the smile his old friend was wearing.

"You've been a busy boy Ripper. Every time I look you have a new brat to tend to"

Giles smiled turned to a frown as the three stopped there dancing when they heard Ethan's voice. Buffy ran to Giles and as she reached him he lifted her up for a hug, forgetting his anger with Ethan.

"I missed you" His little slayer said as she hugged around his neck, placing a kiss on his cheek. He tried to pretend he couldn't feel Ethan eyes on him as he told Buffy she was also missed and kissed her on the forehead. He put Buffy down and she immediately went to Ethan and hugged his legs at which he stiffened and awkwardly patted her head. She looked up him "And I missed you uncle Eefin"

"Yes, well most women do when they wake and find I have left" they had left during Buffy's nap to avoid a tantrum about wanting to go. Buffy looked at him with a wrinkled face "Huh?"

"Ethan." Giles said in a warning tone to which he rolled his eyes and said "I missed you as well rugrat," then looked to Rupert and mouthed 'happy?' The answer seemed to satisfy Buffy because she went and asked Xander for a new movie. Thank heavens Willow had brought over her Disney collection.

Buffy, Willow and Xander were sitting on the floor watching 'Pinocchio' while he and Ethan made sure they had bought everything they would need for the dimension leap. Willow couldn't help but stare at the stranger who she hadn't even been introduced to. He seemed sleazy, nothing like Giles. She got up and made way to stand next to Giles, her eyes shifting to the other man every so often. When the librarian noticed her presence her gave her a warm smile and pulled out a chair for her which she happily accepted. She rested her elbows on the table and watched Giles as he read over some book is his hands then looked at Ethan again.

Ethan without looking up said "Keep looking at me like that and I might show you something you REALLY won't want to take your eyes off" then looked up at her and kissed the air towards her while winking, his hands going to rest suggestively on his belt buckle. Willow's face wrinkled in disgust.

Giles stood up and gave Ethan a glare that would stop a man dead "Try it and…"

"What? Maybe that's what she needs. Lord knows you need a good shagging, you're too uptight. And as much as it kills you you need me. Can't do this alone can you mate?" Ethan leaned against the table with a look of superiority, making Giles clench his jaw and fists.

At this point the exchange had everyone's attention, the movie forgotten. Giles walked to Ethan and grabbed a handful of hair on the back of his head and pulled it back to that he could look at him in the eye and said something in low menacing voice that Xander couldn't hear but by the wide eyed look on Willows face he knew she had. He made a metal note to ask her later. He didn't notice Buffy had left his side until he seen her pulling on Giles shirt.

"That's not nice Giles." Buffy said with a frown "be nice"

As if waking from a trance Giles shook his head and looked down at Buffy then back to his hand that still a grip on Ethan's hair and let go. Ethan who now looked visibly shaken and pale sank into the chair beside him. Willow was still in shock from seeing Giles react in such a way that she just sat there watching and taking everything in, her eyes flicked to Ethan then to Xander who mouthed 'Told you' to her.

"You're right Buffy that wasn't very nice of me. I won't do it again." He picked Buffy up and settled her on his hip

Buffy looked at Giles with all the seriousness a 3yr could muster and said "Okay it's forgetted but," she held up one finger "Next you gets a time out mister"

Almost everyone in the room let a laugh slip from their lips as they watched Giles face as he was chastised by his slayer. Then Buffy hugged him around his neck and announced she needed to use the restroom.

Buffy came skipping back into the room and went to Ethan then proceeded to climb in his lap and hugged him then climbed off and went to sit in Willows lap. Ethan could help the smile that touched his lips.

It was later in the evening when the Scoobs and Ethan were sitting at the dinner table with books and such spread out in front of them. Buffy had fallen asleep on the couch so they let her sleep so they could talk.

"Okay so let me get this straight… This book is here but not HERE because it's in another dimension?" Willow asked with a look of disbelief on her face "And you need to go into this said dimension with him to get the book?"

Giles nodded and Ethan smirked "That's correct Red"

"Okay even I am finding this quantum leap hard to digest. What if it's a trick to get you away from the Buffster?" Xander asked glaring at Ethan and Willow nodded in agreement while crossing her arms in front of her.

Giles had to admit Xander had a point but as much as he hated to side with his old friend he had known him long enough to know when he was lying and when he trying to come out on top and this wasn't one of those times but that wouldn't stop him from keeping him at arms distance.

"I wouldn't hurt the little runt. Older version maybe" at the looks he received from around the table he added "It was a bloody joke"

"Well _I'm_ joke guy so back the hell off Buffy" Xander said trying to put venom in his voice as Giles had earlier with not as much success

Ethan looked at Giles "Looks like junior is trying to fill your shoes mate. Must make a daddy proud"

Giles had to admit he was feeling pride at Xander protecting Buffy he was growing into a fine young man. Deciding to change the subject Giles finally spoke "When can this be done?"

"If I had it my way tonight but the Powers That Be would like me suffer in the presence of you white hats a little longer. The next full moon."

"That's still four days from now!" Willow exclaimed

"Well don't look at me like I told the moon to hold on getting bloody full"

Giles took of his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh then replaced them "Well this will give us time to prepare so that we may do this properly; the last thing I wish to do is somehow get stuck in another plane where there are 2 of you" he look to Ethan at the last bit.

"Double the trouble, double the fun" Ethan said with a smirk

"Not bloody likey" Giles glanced at the time it was close to 7 if he did wake Buffy now she would be up all and he still had to read up on what needed to be done in a few days' time.

"Why don't I give Buffy a bath for you so you can do whatever you are doing here?" Willow offered

Giles smiles his thanks and nodded then paused, it was getting dark and he didn't want Xander or Willow walking home this late especially after last night. Willow was already gently waking Buffy up for her bath and Xander and gone upstairs to get her night clothes and undies. When Willow and Buffy and walked down the hall Giles looked to Ethan and took his keys out of his pocket.

"I need you take to Willow and Xander home it's late and I don't want them walking"

"Oi mate have you gone bloody mad? When did I sign up to be part or your daddy care?"

"When you decided to take over my couch for the next week. Now either you take the two or I will and you can bathe Buffy" Still holding the keys out to his old friend

Xander came from down the hall his shirt almost drenched "Hey G-man you got any extra towels?"

Giles was sitting the armchair when Ethan opened the door and entered, tossing the keys on the dinner table as he did then looked to Giles "Never bloody again"

"It couldn't have been that bad"

"Bullocks! It's was like a game of 20 questions the entire time and I don't think that Xander fellow cares much for me. Come to think of it neither does Red"

Giles smirked "What did they ask?"

"They wanted to know what daddy was like in his glory days." Ethan came and sat on the couch, kicking of his shows as he did.

The smirk fell from Giles face and a slight frown replaced it "What did you tell them?"

"Well I didn't tell them about demon raising if that's what you're asking. You think I 'ave a death wish?"

Giles relaxed a little and closed the book in his lap he went to speak when he heard the rustling of sheets upstairs, looking to the loft. Ethan remained quiet as well until Giles sat back with his eyes closed.

"I'm not going to shatter the brats' vision of you if that's what you're worried about"

With his eyes still closed he replied "What do you want?"

"Nothing."

Giles opened his eyes and stared at his old friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Really. Scouts honor" Ethan held up a hand

"You were never in the scouts"

"Well then you're just going to have to trust me, aren't you Ripper?"

"Wonderful" and with that he stood up and cracked his back "Why are you really here to help?"

"At first to save my own arse when shit hit the fan"

"And now?" Giles questioned

Ethan shrugged "S'not fair going after a helpless little bit. Though 'ave to admit shrinking and not killing her is a bloody perfect loop hole isn't it? Can't call a new slayer if the other one is technically still in the picture"

"Yeah brill" Giles said somberly then head to bed for the night leaving Ethan alone. After he had changed he laid and in bed and thought about everything that had occurred that day Xander's lecture, shopping with Ethan, planning out this realm jump, threatening Ethan's life, filling Willow and Xander in on why the big bads were after Buffy this time and Buffy's bed time story. At the thought of Buffy he turned to his side and watched her sleep. Knowing that someone was after her (again) made his blood boil especially because she was so helpless right now maybe the next few days he could act like she wasn't the Slayer but instead like the 3yr old she currently was.

He laid there thinking of the things that he could do with her over the next few days. The zoo possibly a movie maybe he would ask her what she would like to do. Giles looked at her one more time for falling asleep but not before he pressed a kiss to her temple and whispering goodnight.

TBC


End file.
